


After the Storm

by ariadne83, somehowunbroken



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2017-12-30 17:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 48,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariadne83/pseuds/ariadne83, https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason is getting ready to start his reign as the Red Hood when he overhears a conversation that will change his life. He ends up giving up his plans for revenge and taking on a new identity so he can raise the son he never thought he'd have. When his safety and anonymity are threatened by the Wayne Foundation 's representative, Tim Drake-Wayne, all Jason can do is keep his head down and hope for the best - but he may have to redefine "best" in order for that to work out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to camshaft22 and shinysylver for alpha and beta reading this story!
> 
> Warning: off-screen character deaths of two minor (to the story) characters. 
> 
> Slight bending of canon, though we did our best to stick to the general timeline. The story begins a few months after the end of Red Hood: Lost Days and proceeds from there.

 

Jason doesn't have time to keep tabs on everything, not by himself, so he does the Bat thing: he bugs Gotham. He doesn't have Bruce's resources, but Talia put enough money into his account that he's not exactly hurting for cash, so he sets up a surveillance network in the places he wants to keep an eye on - namely, Crime Alley and the most prominent Bat hangouts. You never know where good intel will come from, after all.

His setup is pretty sweet, if he does say so himself. All of the bugs transmit to a terminal with voice recognition software, where it's transcribed and saved for him to review later. Jason has the program rigged to recognize a few key words, things related to ongoing cases, but otherwise everything just gets saved to a folder according to location, and he goes through it when he's got the time. It's mostly mundane stuff, but half of the legwork on cases is boring shit. It's one of the things that hasn't changed in the slightest since he's come back.

He sighs and looks at the latest transcriptions. Most of them are short, which isn't good - if the conversation isn't long enough, then there's probably not enough information in there for him to figure anything out. He’ll review them, sure, but right now Jason has an hour to spare, so it's probably a better idea to get a bigger one out of the way.

The program gives a soft beep and pops up a message just as Jason is about to open a promising-looking conversation. One of his bugs is picking up something that he'd set it to notify him about, and when he checks it, he sees that it's from a live feed. He grabs his headphones from the desk and plugs them in, pulling the feed up as he settles in to listen.

"-telling you, B, you can't fool me. I know _something_ is bugging you. What, did Talia not want to snuggle when you saw her last month?"

 _That's probably it_ , Jason thinks. Talia's name is always of interest, whether it's criminals talking about her or dear old Dad and Big Bird.

Bruce sighs, and Jason focuses again. "She's… in a situation."

"That's really specific, B. I completely understand now." Dick sounds way too amused, which is his default setting, so Jason isn't actually surprised. "Don't you usually run a mile from her 'situations'?"

"She needs help, Nightwing. She… her father… it's complicated."

There's a pause and a whistle. "Is it _your_ complication?"

Bruce sighs. "Decidedly not, though I did offer-"

Jason hits the switch to kill the feed, and the line goes silent. He stares at the wall for a long moment, because holy shit, holy shit, _what_ had he just heard?

He manages to shake himself and grab his phone. He's got a few numbers for Talia. Most of them are message services, because it's a lot safer to communicate through third parties than it is to call directly, but he does have a personal number for emergency use only.

He hits the speed dial and waits.

"Is something on fire, or do you need more money?" Talia says after the second ring.

"I need a face-to-face meeting."

She sighs, clearly annoyed. "How did you find out?"

Jason narrows his eyes at the wall. "Does it matter? I need a face-to-face."

"I'd like to know how far the knowledge goes," she says crisply. "Surely you can understand that."

"You want me to tell you over an unsecured line?"

There's a moment's pause. "You called me from an _unsecured line_?" Talia sounds more disbelieving than angry, which is a good sign.

Jason shrugs and smirks. "I don't need to play fair; I need to see you. In person."

Talia sighs again. "If I come to you, there will be watchdogs. If you come to me, the old man will make you regret it."

"And if we meet somewhere else?" Jason asks. "I can slip the noose if you can."

"Do you have somewhere safe in mind?"

Jason blinks, surprised. If Talia is actually trusting him to take care of security, then she has to be pretty freaked. She's kind of a control nut about some things, and security has always been one of them. After a moment, he nods. "I can give you coordinates and a time."

"Send them through drop 3-B," she says. There's a click, and then Jason hears the dial tone.

3-B is the most secure, most pain-in-the-ass drop line that they have set up, with triple redundancies and a switchback so confusing that the schematics make Jason's head pound. They haven't used it once in all the time they've spent relaying messages to each other.

Yeah, Jason thinks. She's pretty freaked out.

-0-

"Jason," Talia greets as she walks through the door. She looks around the room and grimaces. "This is your idea of a meeting place?"

Jason shrugs. "We've met in worse, we're on a schedule, and it's secure," he says. "Are you really-"

Talia smiles thinly and lifts the hem of her shirt, which is a lot looser than the ones she normally favors. Sure enough, there's a little lump there - not enough to immediately scream _incoming baby_ , but enough that people who know her would know something was up.

"Jesus," he breathes, staring at the lump until Talia pulls her shirt back down.

"Unlikely," she says, amused. "In fact, depending on who you ask, it's closer to the other one."

Jason snorts and looks up again. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She sighs. "I can't keep it, Jason."

"You mean-" He shakes his head. "You've kept it this long. If you wanted to get rid of it, you'd have had it easier if you'd already done it."

Talia winces. "I said cannot, Jason, not that I don't want to. I've been trying to come up with an alternate solution, but I've yet to figure out anything that would work."

Jason spreads his hands. "Allow me to offer an idea."

"You're busy. You have plans, Jason," she replies. "We have that in common. Our lives are not our own, and we are both trying to move out of the shadows of the past." She sighs. "Neither of our plans includes raising a child together, nor do they allow room for you raising one without me."

"You don't want to be involved?"

Talia shakes her head. "The child's life... if my father knew of it, there would be no peace, Jason. He would stop at nothing to get his hands on a descendant of his bloodline."

"I wouldn't-"

"No. Listen. He would want the child as his heir - not as a replacement, but as a vessel for his own soul." Talia's mouth twists. "What's left of it, anyway."

There's a moment where all Jason can feel is the Pit churning inside him, coloring everything green as he tries to breathe it away. It takes longer than usual for the anger to subside, and when he finally blinks his eyes open again, Talia is leaning forward with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine," he growls. He forces himself to swallow, then tries again. "There's no way in hell any kid of mine is going to end up in that psycho's hands."

"There's very little chance that any child of mine would avoid such a fate," Talia says quietly. "So you see the problem."

"There has to be a way," Jason says angrily. "I can't give up on my kid before I even meet them."

Talia looks at him for a long moment. "You truly want this."

Jason folds his arms over his chest. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"I just never saw you as a father," Talia says, shrugging. "The thought isn't impossible to believe, but it's not the easiest thing, either."

"Well, I want the kid," Jason says. " _Our_ kid. I want to take him or her away from all of this bullshit and just... give them a life. A childhood. A good one."

There's another moment of silence before Talia speaks. "There might be a way, but it would require a lot from you."

"Hit me with it."

"Jason Todd would have to die," she says. "Your plans for revenge would be buried alongside him. Whoever you chose to become when you rose from the ashes would be no more or less than any other man."

Jason breathes evenly, in and out in something that isn't quite meditation. "A new identity," he mutters, closing his eyes. "Walking away and starting over."

"I don't want to pressure you into making a decision lightly," Talia says, "but time is, as always, at a premium." She pauses for a moment. "I can offer you a few minutes to think, but the longer we're here, the more likely we are to be found, and I don't think I need to tell you what the consequences for that might be."

"Yeah, no, I've got plenty of nightmares about that already," Jason says, opening his eyes and meeting Talia's. "I'll do it."

Talia blinks slowly. "You'll what?"

"I'll do it," Jason repeats. "I started a few things that I should wrap up, but I can be out of Gotham and into a new identity in a month. Less, probably."

"You'd never be able to go back," Talia warns. "Not to Gotham. Not to being Jason."

"I'm not that attached to being Jason," he replies with a shrug. "It's not like there are all that many good times associated with the name. Mostly it's bad days and worse nights."

She lets a breath out slowly. "I wouldn't be able to help you."

"I can do it," Jason says, dropping his hands to his lap and leaning forward. "I've got money that isn't attached to a name. I'll get a job, find a decent place to live. The only thing that you'd need to do is lay low until the baby is born, and I'll do the rest. If you want me to lose your number after that, fine, it's done. Just..." Jason sighs. "If any part of you wants to have this kid, Talia, let me do this. If you don't want to go through the whole shebang, I get that, and I'm not gonna pull any asshole stunts to convince you to keep it. All I'm saying is, I want to do this, and I'm one hundred percent willing to walk away from being Jason if that's what it takes."

Talia stares him down for a full minute and then nods. “Very well. But I will believe it when I see it.”

“That’s fair.” She’s seen some of what Jason can do when he puts his mind to it, but none of those skills apply all that well to raising a kid. Especially not one that’s pretty much guaranteed to inherit a stubborn streak, between Jason and Talia. He’s not too proud to put in the hard work, though - to lay the foundations to _make_ her trust him. This is too important not to try.

Talia snorts after a moment, and Jason looks up to meet her eyes. "You've been staring for five solid minutes."

Jason can feel the smile stretching across his face. "I'm actually excited about something for the first time in... yeah. A while."

"You're really that happy?"

"It's one of the things…" Jason blows out a breath. "I had some time to think between being killed and actually dying. It's one of the things that I thought I'd never have the chance to do. Be a dad." He shrugs. "And hey, I can't be any worse at it than my parents were. I think kiddo and I have a real shot at this."

"If I thought you'd do poorly, I wouldn't have agreed to let you take him," Talia says.

Jason sits up straighter. "Him?"

"I can only hope," Talia replies, looking away. "This life is unkind to women."

"I'll do everything I can," Jason promises. "I don't have many favors to trade in, but I'll use what I have and borrow a few more. I'll make things as good as I can for him or her."

Talia finally smiles. "I have no doubts about that."

-0-

It takes three weeks for Jason to finish... well, his life, if he's being literal.

The Red Hood hadn't really gotten his feet under him yet, so it's not too hard to shut that whole operation down. It's harder to figure out how to fake his own death in a way that will convince Ra's that he's actually dead without attracting too much notice from the pointy-eared crowd. The last thing that Jason wants is for Bruce to fixate on him when he's not actually trying to get his attention.

Finally, though, Jason sends word to Talia: he's officially dead. Again.

She replies with a false name and a set of coordinates, and when Jason pulls up and takes his helmet off, he has to blink a few times at the scene in front of him. He's in a suburb about an hour and a half from Gotham, and there's a short, stocky African-American woman waving enthusiastically at him from the lawn of the house he's been directed to.

"Hi there!" she calls cheerfully, walking towards him with something held in her hand. "I'm Debbie Merten. You must be Nate, right?"

"Uh," Jason replies, "yeah, that's me." _Nathan Peterson_ , Talia's info had said. He doesn't have to re-check the address to know he's in the right place.

"Welcome to the neighborhood," Debbie says, smiling as she comes to a stop a few feet away. "I'm the head of the local Neighborhood Watch, so the realtor left the key with me. The movers were busy over here the last couple of days, but I haven't seen them today, so I'd guess all your things are ready for you inside." She opens her hand, showing Jason a key. "Want to take a walk through your new place?"

 _Talia's new identity includes a house_ , Jason realizes. _A little warning might have been nice._ He smiles at Debbie, taking the key. "Sounds like a plan."

Debbie follows him into the house, talking about local things to do and places to see. The house isn't small; there are three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plus a living room and a kitchen. It kind of seems like the aftermath of two floor plans crashing into each other, Jason thinks as they walk around; the second floor doesn't really seem like it fits on top of the first floor, and it feels like there's a lot of hallway for a house that claims to have an open floor plan. All of the rooms are fully furnished, though, including a master bedroom with a comfortable-looking bed and a nursery overflowing with more baby stuff than Jason has ever seen in one place before.

Debbie gasps as they walk into the nursery. "Oh, my. You're expecting?"

"Yeah," Jason says, grinning and looking down. "Uh. My girlfriend Sarah is due in a little over four months. She's staying with her parents for now, because all of her doctors and everything are up there. Once the baby is born, they're going to come down here and join me. I came ahead so I could settle in, learn the area, that kind of thing." It's an easy enough story to remember, and one that he's sure he can convince people is true.

"Congratulations," Debbie says warmly. "My husband Ryan and I are foster parents, so if there's ever anything you need, chances are good we've got spares. You just give us a call."

There's absolutely no doubt in Jason's mind that Talia has done thorough background checks on pretty much anyone he and the baby could possibly come into contact with while living in this town, so Debbie is either someone Talia planted, or she's completely safe. He's betting on the latter, mostly because he can't see any of Talia's people being so chatty. Either way, Jason has the feeling he'll be calling her more than once. "Thanks, Debbie."

"Anything for a new family," Debbie says, looking around at the room. "Well, it certainly looks like you've got everything you could possibly need."

It really does look like Talia opened up a baby magazine and ordered one of everything. "We both had some money put away," Jason says. "We just want the baby to have everything he or she could need."

 _Except its mom_ , he adds silently. There's nothing he can do about that, though, so he keeps his smile firmly in place and asks Debbie about daycare facilities in the area.

The grand tour concludes in the kitchen, where Jason notices an envelope sitting on the counter, addressed to his new identity. Jason grabs it and peeks inside, closing it back up when he sees Talia's handwriting. Debbie must notice the look on his face, because she stops mid-sentence - something about the local library's summer program - and clucks her tongue. "Bad news already?"

"I'm not sure," Jason says. "I hope not. I'll read it later, though."

"Oh, don't let me keep you," Debbie says, patting Jason's arm and heading for the front door. "I live four houses down the street, so if you need anything, just yell. I'm a light sleeper." She smiles and Jason can't help smiling back.

"Thanks for the welcome party," Jason says as he shows her out. "It's good to know that we're going to be raising our kid in a place that's so friendly." 

Part of him is creeped out, actually - maybe from the lack of skyscrapers, or maybe from the fact that Debbie doesn't seem like she has a hidden agenda. He keeps the smile pasted firmly on. "Have a good night, Debbie."

"You too, Nate," she says, waving as she walks down the driveway.

Jason waits at the door until he sees Debbie turn up a driveway a little farther down the street, then closes and locks his own door. He pulls the key Debbie had handed him out of his pocket and stares at it for a moment before heading back into the kitchen and opening the letter.

_Nathan,_

_The house is in your name. It was purchased outright, so you won't have to worry about housing your child. We will set up a discreet account with funds; should you need it, the money will be available to you. We have no doubt that you will want to support the child on your own, but the money will be there nonetheless._

_Sarah will contact you when the time comes._

_Mr. and Mrs. Malone_

A letter from Talia, disguised as something from Sarah's family. Jason knows that they have to be careful, more so now than he's ever had to be before in his life, but it's still weird. He was never great at the undercover stuff.

He'll have to get better at it, he thinks as he stares at the note. It's his life now.

-0-

On his second morning in town, Jason mentions to Debbie that he's looking for work. By four o'clock that afternoon, he's got interviews lined up with two different auto repair shops and a hotel bar downtown. The next day, he's gainfully employed as a full-time mechanic and part-time bartender.

"You're a force of nature," Jason says when Debbie walks by that night. She's holding the leashes of two huge dogs, both of whom look like they're more likely to spend the day playing pillow than destroying things. Great dogs, in Jason's mind.

"Sit," Debbie orders, and both dogs flop to the ground. Debbie rolls her eyes and Jason grins. "Close enough. Anyway, they got in touch with you? I told them you were new in town and had a baby on the way, so you'd be looking to pick up what you could."

"Thanks," Jason says. "Tyler at the mechanic's told me to swing by and show him what I can do with a wrench, and the hotel bar needs an extra set of hands on weekend nights, so that's two gigs right there. I should be able to put a bunch away by the time Sarah and the baby get here."

"That's wonderful," Debbie says, beaming at him. "I'm glad to hear it. How are you settling in?"

They chat for a few minutes until one of the dogs starts getting restless, so Jason waves and makes his way back into the house.

This is the part that makes him anxious about the whole plan. Jason isn't good at waiting; he really never has been, and now he can't even fill his spare time thinking up new and interesting ways to get back at Bruce. He's itching to go out and patrol, to find some crime to kick in the teeth, but that's not an option for him anymore. He's going to have to find actual hobbies, which sounds so bizarre inside his own head that Jason has to laugh. Maybe he'll stop by the library and check out a few books; he used to like reading for pleasure.

Jason spends a few hours flipping through channels on the television before trying to go to sleep. He makes himself spend a full six hours in bed, not doing much more than tossing and turning, and then gets up and makes himself breakfast. His first shift at the auto repair shop starts in a couple of hours, and he needs to make sure he leaves in enough time to figure out where he's going to park.

"Hey, Nate," Tyler calls as Jason walks into the shop. "Come on in and get into your coveralls. We've got two up for oil changes right now, and a few more coming in later today." He grins. "Maybe we'll get lucky and someone's brakes will start making weird squeaky noises."

Jason snorts. "This place is the real life of the town," he replies. "I can see why you needed the help."

"We're just too good at our jobs," Tyler says mournfully. He can't hold the serious expression, though, and after a few seconds he's grinning again. "We do okay, but having another set of hands around means that we don't have to worry if someone gets sick, or one of the kids needs to stay home from school."

"You have kids?"

Tyler beams. "Three of 'em. They're terrors, but they're mine, you know?"

"I will soon," Jason says, grabbing the coveralls from the shelf when Tyler points. "Debbie told you, right?"

"Yeah," Tyler replies. "Your girl’s having the baby back north, then they're moving down here. When's the baby due?"

"Beginning of September," Jason says. "Got a bathroom I can use to change?"

Tyler points him to the back of the shop and Jason goes. The day is as uneventful as Tyler predicted; most of the people who come in during the day are there to meet the new guy, so Tyler has him chatting with the customers while he does minor repairs in the back. Jason makes a few appointments and gets a few more invitations to various things around town, and by the time Tyler comes in to help him close the shop, Jason is surprised to find that the day has actually gone pretty quickly.

"Hopefully we'll have something more exciting in tomorrow," Tyler says, wiping his hands with a rag that can only be making them dirtier. "You never know who's going to wake up and find out that a squirrel chewed through a fan belt."

Jason snorts. "Does that happen often?"

"Welcome to small-town living," Tyler replies, spreading his hands. "We get all the exciting stuff."

"Speaking of exciting stuff," Jason says, "I'm gonna be looking for something else to drive. It's hard to get a baby seat on the back of a motorcycle, you know?"

Tyler groans. "Tell me you're not trading in your Raider for a minivan. Lie if you have to."

"I don't really think I'm the minivan type," Jason says, making a face. "I'm gonna need something I can load everyone into, though, so something with a back seat and a little cargo room would be good."

"I'll ask around," Tyler says. "I know a guy over at Brian's Autos. He might have something for you."

"Let me guess," Jason deadpans. "You know Brian himself."

"He's my father-in-law." Tyler grins. "Should I tell him you're trading in for a daddy-mobile?"

"Tell him I'm looking," Jason says. "Don't go promising my ride to anyone. I might keep it for nostalgia, if nothing else." He already knows that he'll be getting rid of the bike; it's noticeable, and even though he's pretty sure nothing about the bike can tie him back to Gotham, he'll sleep a little easier knowing he's tied that loose end up.

"I'll let you know what he says," Tyler promises, clapping Jason on the shoulder as they walk out of the shop. "See you tomorrow, man."

Jason waves and heads home the long way. Might as well get a few more good rides in before he gets rid of the bike.

-0-

Time passes.

Tyler's father-in-law comes through with a second-hand SUV; Jason shudders internally a little the first time he sees it, but it'll be good to have once the kid arrives. Brian charges him a thousand dollars less than the sticker price, and when Jason asks, Brian smiles and tells him it's "the first-kid discount." After that, it’s a little like Jason’s been possessed by the dad from the Brady Bunch: he signs up for parenting classes, first aid classes, renovation tips at Home Depot, you name it. It's all stuff that he feels like he should know, and it has the added bonus of filling a few extra hours each week.

But it doesn’t make adjusting to life in a small town any less weird. Growing up, the only people who'd known who Jason was were the people in his building and his mom's friends; the more people who knew his name, the more danger he could potentially be in. He'd been even more secluded as Robin, and he hadn't branched out much during his training to be Red Hood, either. Suddenly, though, he's living in a neighborhood where he's regularly invited to four different homes for meals per week, he can't buy a box of pasta at the grocery store without running into two people he knows, and the cashier at the gas station feels comfortable giving him parenting advice.

It's weird. It's not bad-weird, not after the first few weeks, but it's definitely something that is out of Jason's comfort zone.

He works as many hours as he can get, and between the repair shop and the bartending gig, he manages to sock away a good amount of money. He's gotten too used to running on only a few hours' sleep a night, which will probably come in handy once the baby arrives, but is frustrating when he's cooped up in his house with nothing to do but try not to wish he could patrol. When he mentions the stir-crazy feelings to Debbie, she laughs.

"You should go visit Sarah," she suggests. "You're getting antsy sitting around here without your family."

Jason smiles a little and shrugs. "I'll go back up when it's getting close to the due date. Her family and I... we're not really on good terms. The less I can get in their way, the better things will be for everyone in the long run." _Here's hoping Ra's never finds out_ , he adds silently.

Debbie clicks her tongue. "You talk to her, right? She knows things are going well down here, and you're sure she's doing okay?"

"We talk," Jason lies. "She says she's doing fine, and that she misses seeing her feet."

That makes Debbie laugh. "Well, at least you have that."

"Yeah," Jason agrees. It would be nice to actually have that, but he knows that getting in touch with Talia right now would be incredibly risky, and he's not going to do it just to check up on her. She'd slap him if she even knew he was thinking about it.

"Nate, if you're bored," Debbie says, "I work with the after-school program that the school district coordinates. We're running our summer program now, and it could be good practice for you, helping the kids out."

"Doing what?"

Debbie shrugs. "A lot of the older kids are there for basic tutoring - mostly hand-holding through their math sets or chemistry problems, or talking about what they're reading in English. Most of them are working on their summer reading right now. We read stories to the younger ones, and there's a play area for the really little kids. We get enough kids in that an extra set of hands is always good to have around."

"I'll have to think about it," Jason replies. "I've never... I'm not sure how good I'd be at tutoring."

"I'm sure you'd be great," she says, patting his arm. "And if you want to volunteer but aren't sold on tutoring, well, we can always use you as a human jungle gym for the babies." She grins. "Tyler's boy just learned to walk. He needs his own minder at this point."

Jason laughs, mostly because he knows how true it is. Tyler loves talking about his family, so Jason is well-aware of how much Jeremy appreciates his newfound superpower. "I can believe that."

"We're in the gymnasium of the elementary school. every day from noon to six," Debbie says. "Most of our volunteers come for two or three hours a few times a week. There aren't too many full-timers like me." She grins. "You should stop by and get a feel for it."

"I'll think about it," Jason promises. He's pretty sure he'll end up checking it out; between Debbie's cajoling and his own inability to sit still at the moment, occupying his time with some volunteer work will probably seem like the best idea ever in a few days.

"Sounds good," Debbie says, checking her watch. "I'd better get going. Ryan and I start fostering a new child in a few days, and we've got our last check with DYFS this afternoon."

"You'll blow them away," Jason says, grinning. Debbie laughs and claps him on the shoulder as she stands. "See you later, Debbie."

"And you, Nate," she says, waving as she goes. 

-0-

Jason turns eighteen in the middle of August, and between working both jobs, volunteering at the summer tutoring program, and helping Debbie plan some things for when school starts back up again, he's managing to sleep a solid six hours most nights. He knows that Talia is due in September, but she hadn't been able to give him a more specific date than that, and it's not like he can call her to ask for an update, so he's doing his best not to worry about when his kid is going to show up.

"Getting excited?" Debbie asks, sitting at the table where Jason is sorting through a box of books that had been donated to the program. "How's Sarah doing?"

"Yes, and she's doing fine," Jason says, putting a worn copy of _James and the Giant Peach_ into the "keep" box. He pulls another couple of books out and starts flipping through them. "She says it's starting to get really uncomfortable, though. She's due pretty soon."

Debbie makes a sympathetic sound. "My sister birthed four kids, one born in each season, and she says that if she had to do it all over again, she'd have all of them in March so she didn't have to do the hard parts during the summer months. It sounds wretched."

"Yeah," Jason says, reluctantly putting _The Giver_ into the "discard" pile. There's not much he can do with a book missing a chunk from the middle. "I… I kind of can't wait, and at the same time, I hope it's a little longer, you know?"

"I know," Debbie says, patting him on the arm. "As soon as you hold him or her, though, you'll wonder how you ever went without. And you know we're all here if you need us, right?"

Jason grins and puts three more books in the "keep" box. "Thanks, Debbie."

"Don't thank me, just finish sorting those books," Debbie says with a laugh. "I've got to catalogue the keepers and get them in our library."

"Aye, aye," Jason says, saluting her with a copy of _Charlotte's Web_.

-0-

The after-school program is a lot more organized than the summer program had been, and by the end of the second week, Jason has a newfound appreciation for Debbie's ability to make things run smoothly. It's kind of amazing to watch her direct parents and students all afternoon and end up with the result she was aiming for.

He collapses onto his sofa on Friday, rolling his neck on his shoulders. It's been a long week, and even knowing that it's going to get more hectic soon isn't enough to make him feel better right now.

There's a beeping sound from the kitchen, and Jason groans, letting his head drop against the back of the sofa. He's halfway to standing before he freezes and reaches into his pocket. Sure enough, he's got his cell phone with him, which can only mean…

Jason runs into the kitchen and pulls a drawer open, yanking at the false panel he'd installed in its back and grabbing the beeping communicator. It's for the new communication point, the one that Talia had set up when Jason had left Gotham behind. They haven't used it at all. Jason's heart is pounding as he taps in his authentication code, waits, and then taps in the passcode.

"One message," the computerized voice says. "Expect company Saturday morning, 10 AM."

There's a click before the communicator shuts itself off, and Jason sets it on the counter slowly. His hand definitely isn't shaking, nope, not at all. He's fine. He's good.

He's going to meet his kid in the morning.

-0-

Jason manages about an hour of sleep before he snaps back to awareness. He'd cleaned everything that he could think of to clean before trying to sleep; it's not like he's a slob on a normal basis, so it hadn't distracted him for nearly as long as he'd hoped it would. Now he's awake again, and the sun isn't even up yet. Jason sighs, knowing better than to think he'll be able to get back to sleep at this point.

He gets up and showers before making himself something to eat and going up to the nursery. Everything is in place, from the basics like the crib and changing table down to the unnecessarily detailed sheets to things Jason had had to look up, like the Diaper Genie. He hasn't been able to think of anything he'd need in the months since arriving, and when he'd asked Debbie if she could recommend anything else, she'd told him that he has more baby things than she'd ever had, and that he'd do just fine. Talia's people had been thorough in putting the house together, not that Jason had expected any less.

Jason pulls out his cell phone and leaves a message with the hotel's reception; they'd talked it out a month ago, how Jason would only work up until the baby arrived. He won't be able to keep both a day job and a night job while also raising a kid on his own, and it'll be easier to find somewhere for the baby to be during the day while he's at the repair shop. Jason sits on the sofa for a while, staring out the window, and calls Tyler shortly after the sun comes up.

"Hey, Nate," Tyler says, sounding like he's been awake at least as long as Jason has. "Everything okay?"

"It's baby time," Jason says, trying to sound more cheerful and less sick to his stomach than he's actually feeling. "I'm gonna need to take my vacation starting, oh, three hours from now."

"Congratulations!" Tyler says brightly. "Hey, man, that's great. You're heading up for the delivery, right? When are you leaving?"

Jason winces. "Yeah, uh, change of plans. Apparently something happened, I'm not sure what, and Sarah had the baby already. They're both coming down later today."

There's a slight pause before Tyler repeats himself. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jason assures. "It's just… I'm not really sure, to be honest, but she said she'd explain later." He tries for a laugh; it sounds terrible, but he's pretty sure that's allowed in this situation. "I'll let you know when I know what's going on, okay?"

"And let me know if you need anything," Tyler adds. "Also, send pictures. Pictures are great."

Jason smiles and leans his head against the back of the sofa. "Will do, man. Thanks."

He considers calling Debbie, but her oldest foster kid has been sick for the past few days; she'd come over in a heartbeat if Jason called her, but her family needs her right now. Instead, he turns on the television and flicks through the channels, never really settling on anything before moving to the next.

Time seems to drag while he's sitting there, but the closer to ten that it gets, the more anxious Jason becomes. He finally turns the television off at 9:30 and gets up to do one final check of the house before slumping back onto the sofa, staring at the street through the window in the living room.

Jason sees the car turn onto his street from two corners down, and it moves slowly from house to house. He sits up and sucks in a breath when the car stops in front of his house. A glance at the clock reveals that it's 9:57.

This is it, then.

A woman Jason doesn't recognize gets out of the driver's seat. She's probably a few years older than he is, with coloring similar to Talia's but no other resemblance to her. She opens the back door of the car and bends in, and when she stands a moment later, she's holding a car seat.

Jason jumps off of the sofa and runs to the front door, throwing it open just as the woman walks up to the stoop. He moves aside and she walks in without a word. Jason tries to peek into the car seat, but the baby is wrapped up in a fluffy-looking blanket, so he can't really tell anything at first glance.

"The door," the woman says crisply. Jason blinks and shuts it, locking it on autopilot before turning around again.

"Is that-"

"Your son," the woman says, putting the car seat on the ground and squatting beside it. She unhooks the straps in a few swift movement and pulls the blanket off, revealing the tiniest human being that Jason has ever seen face-to-face.

"Oh," he says, staring stupidly down at the baby. His _son_. He's sleeping with his hands curled into fists against his cheeks, and his legs are curled towards his chest. "Can I…"

The woman gives him a small smile. "Have you held an infant before?"

Jason shakes his head, and she points him to the sofa. "Sit. I will show you."

She lifts the baby from the car seat and arranges him in Jason's arms, his tiny head set into the crook of Jason's elbow. Jason can't stop staring, looking for bits and pieces of himself and Talia in the baby. It's tough to be sure, but Jason thinks the kid has his nose.

"Whoa," he murmurs. "Hey there, little guy."

"The lady named him Damian," the woman offers. "She said that you could keep the name or change it as you saw fit."

"Damian," Jason echoes. The baby shifts in his arms - not a lot, just a little wiggle, but it's accompanied by a tiny sigh. It's really unlikely that the baby is responding to the name already, but it's as much of a sign as Jason can hope for. "I think I'll stick with it."

The woman hums, and Jason looks up. "Sorry for, uh, being distracted. I'm-"

"Nathan," the woman cuts in. "And I'm Sarah. That's all we need to know of each other."

"Right," Jason says, looking back at the baby. "When was he born?"

"Two days ago," Sarah replies. "I have a birth certificate and some other legal paperwork in the car. We can bring it in after he wakes and eats."

"Can I feed him?"

Sarah raises an eyebrow. "I certainly hope so."

Jason snorts and shakes his head, looking up. "Yeah, okay, that was stupid. How long are you sticking around?"

"Two days," Sarah replies. "I'm to show you the basics - feeding, changing, holding, that sort of thing - and then I'll go."

"I get a crash course in baby," Jason says. Damian wiggles again, and Jason's attention is immediately drawn back to him. He's stretching one tiny arm away from his face, waving it in the air and letting out a little squeaking noise. "Is that normal?"

"He'll wake up soon," Sarah says, standing and walking towards the door. "He'll want to eat. I'll get his things from the car."

Jason nods, watching as Damian pulls his fist back in and rests it against his cheek again. He takes a deep breath and sighs it back out. As Jason stares, Damian's mouth starts to work, lips moving in little bursts. By the time Sarah walks back in, diaper bag over her shoulder and carrying a few other things, Damian is fussing in Jason's arms.

"He's just hungry, right?" Jason asks anxiously. "That's a hungry sound?"

"Or he might be wet," Sarah says. "Or cold, or warm, or he might just be fussing. You'll learn the difference."

"Great," Jason says. "Mystery noises. I was never good at this game."

"You'll learn," Sarah repeats, heading into the kitchen. "I'll heat a bottle. Just stay there. When he wakes up all the way, he'll probably start crying, and you're less likely to drop him if you're sitting."

Damian is definitely getting wrigglier, and his fussy noises are getting louder. Jason watches as he blinks his eyes open and stares up at Jason.

"Hey," Jason says, unable to keep himself from smiling. "Hi, Damian."

Damian pulls in a big breath and starts wailing, kicking his legs jerkily and waving his arms around. Jason turns and shoots a panicked look at Sarah, who moves to face him after putting a bottle in the microwave. "Rock him a little," she suggests.

Jason rocks his arms back and forth. Damian either doesn't notice or doesn't care, because the crying just gets louder. Jason looks over at Sarah again, but she's turned back towards the microwave. He looks back down at Damian. "Food's coming, kiddo. You don't want cold milk, right? Gotta be nice and warm for you."

Damian whacks his hand into Jason's chest and continues his sobbing until Sarah walks back over, shaking the bottle slightly. Jason watches as she dribbles a little of the milk on the inside of her wrist before handing it over.

"I'm testing to see if it's too hot," she explains. "Tip it up and put it to his mouth. He knows what it is."

Jason does as instructed, and it's like a switch is suddenly flipped. Damian goes silent as he sucks on the bottle, and Jason can't do anything but stare.

"Keep it tilted so he doesn't suck any air in," Sarah instructs. "The less air he swallows, the more comfortable he'll be, and therefore the less he'll fuss."

"I'll take all of the 'less crying' advice you've got," Jason replies, tilting the bottle a little more. "Hell, I'll take any advice. I'm not picky."

"Let's just get through the bottle for now," Sarah says, giving him that small smile again.

After Damian finishes, Sarah coaches Jason through burping him. She has him watch as she changes Damian's diaper, and then they go up to the nursery and lay him in the crib. Damian fusses when Jason puts him down, but Sarah clucks when Jason reaches to pick him back up.

"We have things to do," she reminds him. "Let him sleep. He'll still be here in a few hours."

"Right," Jason says. He grabs the baby monitor off of the dresser and switches both units on before following Sarah out of the room. He glances back before turning the corner. Damian is a lump beneath his blanket, so Jason takes a deep breath and keeps walking.

Sarah is a well of information about what to do with a baby. After she and Jason get the rest of the things from her car, she talks him through a lot of day-to-day stuff. Jason asks a lot of questions, and there's so much information being thrown at him that he almost feels like he should be taking notes.

Damian wakes up about two hours after falling asleep, and this time Sarah holds him while Jason makes the bottle. He tests it on his wrist like Sarah had done earlier, and then hands it over. "It feels fine to me, but I have no idea what it's supposed to feel like."

"Warm," she says, somehow managing to test it on her own wrist without dislodging Damian. "The idea is to emulate the temperature that it would be if he were breast-fed. Also, remember to shake the bottle well before you test it, so the milk is the same temperature throughout."

"Got it," Jason says, holding his arms out. Sarah hands Damian over and gives Jason the bottle, and soon enough Damian is happily gulping the milk down.

"Indeed you do," Sarah says as Damian eats. This time the smile feels a little like approval.

-0-

There's a lot to learn. 

Sarah stays for the promised two days, and by the time she leaves on Monday afternoon, Jason is fairly confident that he's not going to screw up any of the day-to-day stuff. He's got bottles and diapers down, and he even managed to get Damian to stop crying by walking him around and singing half-remembered Beatles songs the night before. He's got three phone numbers for local pediatricians with openings, and all in all, he's feeling pretty good about things.

He calls Debbie on Monday evening and tells her that the baby's name is Damian, and when she asks about Sarah, he does his best to avoid answering. Jason is aware that she lets him do it, but he's not sure exactly how he's going to pull this one off with Debbie, so he's grateful for it.

"I'll be over later in the week," she promises. "I'd love to drop the phone and walk on down, but Katy still has that cough, and the last thing you need right now is germs in your house."

"We'll be here," Jason promises. "I-"

Damian starts crying, amplified by the baby monitor, and Debbie laughs. "Go on, Nate. Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks," Jason says, hanging up the phone. He sticks the bottle in the microwave before starting up the stairs, so by the time he gets Damian up and changed and back down, it's warmed up. He's getting good at this.

Jason starts living by the pattern of Damian waking, Damian eating, and Damian sleeping, or Damian pitching fits, Damian deciding he hates happiness, and Jason trying to figure out what his deal is today. It's incredibly exhausting, Bat training or no, and without anyone else there to help him, Jason loses track of time. He crashes for a couple hours at a time whenever Damian sleeps, and it quickly comes to seem like he's working up a sleep debt that he'll never be able to make up. It's the first time since leaving Gotham that he's glad he isn't responsible for patrolling, and he misses Alfred with a physical ache. He’d give anything to be able to call and ask how the man always made everything look easy, or even just ask how he brews coffee so it doesn’t take precious, long minutes or taste like burning.

"I hate this house," he says to Damian as they're trudging down the stairs. He thinks it's been three days since Sarah left, but he wouldn't put money on it. He knows it's morning, but only because the light is coming in through the kitchen windows. "I have no idea what the architect was thinking. Or if they were thinking, really. I mean, who builds a living room that's half taken up by the huge ugly staircase?"

Damian whines and Jason nods as he pulls a pre-prepared bottle out of the refrigerator and puts it in the microwave. "Yeah, well, someone had to graduate at the bottom of their class. I guess even they get to design houses every once in a while."

The microwave beeps and Jason gets the bottle out, only juggling a little to test the milk before heading back to the sofa. He props himself up in the corner and settles Damian in his arms, watching him as he drinks. When he finishes, Jason sets the bottle on the floor and burps him before settling back into the sofa.

"Upstairs is far away," he says. "Any objections to napping right here? I think it's pretty comfortable. You kinda like napping on me. Think we can make this work?"

In reply, Damian grumbles sleepily and thumps his fist against Jason's collarbone.

"I'm glad we're in agreement," Jason says, leaning back and closing his eyes.

He wakes suddenly to a loud banging sound. Luckily, his first instinct is to stay still until he figures out what's going on, so he doesn't dislodge Damian. After a few seconds, his head clears enough to realise that someone is knocking on the front door. Jason shakes his head and stands carefully, walking to the door and pulling it open.

"Nate," Debbie says after a few seconds of Jason blinking at her, "I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but you aren't actually a zombie."

"Debbie," Jason says. "Did I… is it Thursday?"

"Yes," Debbie says, smiling fondly. "Can I come in?"

"In, yeah, come in," Jason says. He yawns as Debbie walks past him, carrying a tray of something that smells absolutely fantastic. Jason perks up. "Is that your baked ziti?"

"It is," Debbie confirms. "The last of Katy's cold cleared up, so I'm officially germ-free. I figured I'd celebrate by bringing you a hot meal as a clever disguise for meeting your family." She smiles at Damian, who is starting to grumble against Jason's chest. "I see it's your turn to handle nap time."

Jason sighs and shakes his head. "Sarah… she's gone, Debbie. She's not coming back."

"Oh, honey," Debbie says, putting the tray on the table and walking over to pat Jason on the shoulder. "I saw her drive up the other day with the baby, and I thought… she didn't even call you so you could be there when he was born?"

"Her parents… I'm lucky they didn't just decide they were going to raise him and have my rights terminated." Jason shudders as he thinks of what Ra's would do to get his hands on Damian.

Debbie looks indignant. "All you've done since you got here is work for that woman and your child, Nate. There's not a soul here who wouldn't stand up for you in court if that happened."

"With the resources her dad has? It wouldn't matter." Jason smiles weakly. "It means a lot that you'd say that, though, so thanks. And hey, they let her bring him to me, so things could be a hell of a lot worse."

"Even so," Debbie says, crossing her arms over her chest. "That's not right, Nate. It sounds like her parents are calling the shots instead of letting you two live your own lives."

Jason shrugs. "They're kind of like that."

"Is Sarah okay?" Debbie asks bluntly. "I mean, I don't think you'd let her go back to an abusive home without a fight-"

"No, no," Jason says, raising the hand that isn't holding Damian. "It's nothing like that, Debbie, I swear. It's just… they've always had plans for her future, and those plans never included a mechanic boyfriend or a kid that wasn't planned to the last detail." He smiles and knows it has to look a little sickly. "Her dad thinks she'll rule the world someday. She totally might, but I'm not a part of that picture, and I guess she wanted that more than she wanted us." It’s half truth, half a bald-faced lie, and entirely what Jason is feeling right now.

Debbie sighs and holds out her hands. "Okay, Nate. Hand him over and go take a shower. I'll put the ziti in while you're upstairs, and after you're clean and full, you'll feel a lot better."

Jason looks down at Damian, who blinks back up at him. "You gonna scream if I pass you off?"

"Let him scream a little," Debbie says, wiggling her fingers. "It's good for his lungs."

"A shower would be great," Jason admits, shuffling a little so he can slide Damian into Debbie's waiting arms. He's not great at the baby pass move, but Debbie fills in where he screws up, so it works pretty well. Jason watches for a minute as Debbie and Damian evaluate each other. 

Damian apparently decides that Debbie is okay, because he snuffles into her shirt and closes his eyes again. Debbie smiles softly down at him. "Take your shower, Nate."

Jason nods and heads for the stairs. He knows exactly what she's feeling; the kid is a heartbreaker.

The shower helps immensely, and the food helps even more; Debbie feeds Damian his bottle and burps him like a pro before standing and giving him back. She pats his stomach as he squirms in Jason's arms, and he calms pretty quickly.

"Huh," Jason says. blinking. "That's a good one. I'll have to remember that."

Debbie laughs. "You'll figure it out," she promises. "Here's an important one you might not pick up, though: skin-to-skin contact is good for him. Put him in a diaper, take off your shirt, and put him on your chest. Just make sure you've got a blanket handy in case he gets chilly."

"Really?"

"Absolutely," Debbie says firmly. "Especially if he's not going to have a mother figure in the picture. It helps with all sorts of things. You can look it up online."

"I believe you," Jason says. "Thanks, Debbie."

"You let me know if there's anything else I can do," she says, grabbing her dish and heading for the door. "There's enough leftover ziti in the refrigerator for two more meals, and I can bring something over the day after tomorrow if you'd like."

"I can do it," Jason protests. Debbie lifts an eyebrow, and Jason sighs and smiles a little sheepishly. "But I'd appreciate that. Thanks."

"You're welcome, Nate," she says, patting him on the arm again as she walks to the front door. "I'll lock this after myself. You just sit there for a bit while he's content."

Jason listens for the click of the door closing and locking, and then he does exactly that.

-0-

Jason is really, really glad that he saved most of the money he'd made before Damian arrived, because he can't put Damian into daycare before he's six weeks old. He's not actually worried about his finances, especially not with the Talia-sponsored backup plan in a bank out of New York, but it's nice to know he's got his own safety net too.

His days quickly become all about keeping Damian on a schedule of sorts. He learns the difference between some of his crying sounds, just like Sarah had said he would, and he figures out some other things that he thinks are all Damian. He's never heard of babies who get cranky if you keep them in one position for too long, but if he doesn't move Damian every twenty minutes or so, he'll start crying and won't stop until Jason swoops him around.

Damian sleeps most of the time, which is normal as far as Jason has read, but when he's awake it's like he's trying to figure out the world around him. Jason talks to him constantly, narrating what he's doing or telling Damian bits and pieces of stories. Damian doesn't reply, but Jason figures that if nothing else, at least his kid is getting used to his voice. He's proven right when he realises that the sound of his voice is calming Damian down when he starts pitching his fits.

"Hey, kiddo, what do you think about going out?" Jason asks when Damian is about three weeks old. "We can't keep relying on Debbie for food, and we're running out of things that Daddy can eat. We've got enough formula for you to be a happy kid for a while, but I'm not going to ask you to share that with your old man."

Damian stares, and Jason nods. "Yeah, we need diapers, too. I mean, we've got a few days' worth left from the original stash I built up before you got here, but let's be real. We don't want to run out of diapers, am I right?"

It doesn't take long to get Damian into his car seat. It takes a little longer to get the car seat locked into its base, but once that's done Jason climbs into the driver's seat and turns around. "Ready for our store adventure?"

He has to crane his neck in order to see Damian's face. Apparently the rear-facing seats are safer or something. Damian blinks his eyes a few times and Jason nods. "Let's get this show on the road."

It's not a long trip to the store, but by the time Jason parks, Damian is fast asleep. Jason gets the car seat out of the back and locks the handle into place, hoping he can figure out how to attach it to the cart so he doesn't have to carry Damian around the store in one hand and try to push the cart with the other.

"Need a hand?"

Jason looks up and Faye, one of the store's full-time cashiers, waves at him. "I'm heading in from my lunch break, but it looks like you need a little help there."

"Maybe," Jason admits. "I know I've seen people put the car seat on the cart and push the whole thing around, but I feel like if I try it, he's gonna go flying."

Faye laughs. "I'll let you in on the secret: the baby cart is kept inside," she says, nodding at the doors. "C'mon. I'll show you what to do."

Five minutes later, Damian's seat is strapped securely to the bars on the cart, and Jason starts his shopping. His list only has a few things on it, but he goes up and down every aisle anyway, occasionally tossing things into the cart. Damian blinks himself awake in aisle thirteen, and Jason fishes the pacifier out of the pouch on the seat and manages to get it into Damian's mouth before he can protest the change in scenery at full volume.

"We're good," Jason says. "I did the frozen aisles while you were conked out, kiddo, so we don't have to deal with those while you're awake." He taps his forehead. "Sometimes Daddy can think ahead."

"Nate!" Jason hears, and when he turns, Tyler is walking towards him, Jeremy in his arms. "Hey, man, it's good to see you out and about! How's life with baby?"

Jason snorts and shakes his head, but he's smiling. "Exhausting. Difficult. A little terrifying. It's kind of awesome."

"I know, right?" Tyler says, clearly delighted. "Just wait until - hey, Jeremy, ow," he complains, shifting his son, He shrugs a little sheepishly. "He's doing a biting thing. If I'm not watching, he'll chomp on whatever he can reach."

"Down," Jeremy shouts.

"No," Tyler says evenly. "I don't want to have to buy everything you tear open if I let you go."

"No offense, Tyler, but I hope Damian skips that particular phase," Jason says, watching as Jeremy tries unsuccessfully to squirm out of Tyler's hold.

"Yeah, good luck on that," Tyler says cheerily, shifting Jeremy again. "Can I say hi, or is he sleeping?"

"No, hey, come on over," Jason says, shifting to the side. Tyler walks closer and shifts Jeremy again, keeping him from reaching in and biting any part of Damian.

"Cute," Tyler says, grinning down at Damian. "He's got your nose."

Jason brightens a little. "I thought he did, but it's a little hard to tell at this point, y'know?"

"No, definitely," Tyler agrees. "It'll probably be easier to tell after he grows a little, but it's not hard to see he's your kid."

"Poor little guy," Jason says, sighing dramatically. "If only he looked more like his mom. She's gorgeous."

Tyler's smile fades a little. "I, uh. I'm sorry about Sarah."

Jason shrugs and looks away. "I've got Damian. We'll make it work, him and me."

"If there's anything you need," Tyler starts, but Jason cuts him off with a grin.

"We've got it for now, I think," he says. "I'll probably hit you up for recommendations on solid food when he gets there, but we're good until then. Thanks, though."

Tyler nods and steps back. "Good rule of thumb: if you think it tastes nasty, so does he. Strained lima beans taste as terrible as they sound, too, so pick something else."

Jason makes a face. "Gross, man."

"You and Damian will both thank me later," Tyler says wisely. He bends down to put Jeremy on the floor, keeping a firm hold on his hand. "Well, we're gonna do our shopping. You take as long as you need with him, and let me know when you're ready to come back, okay?"

"Thanks, Tyler," Jason says, stepping back in front of the cart and looking Damian over at speed. All is well, so Jason continues through the rest of the store as quickly as he can.

"He's a cutie," Faye comments as Jason checks out. "I've got two girls, five and three, and they keep asking me for a little brother." She grins. "I keep telling them not to hang their hopes on it, but hey, you never know, right?"

"That's for sure," Jason agrees, putting his bags into his cart. "I know all about the surprise baby thing. Trust me."

Faye nods, still smiling. "Good on you for stepping up."

"I couldn't not," Jason says. "Also, that doesn't make me a hero. It just makes me a decent person."

"Even so," Faye says, handing him his receipt. "You two have a good night."

"Here's hoping," Jason says, waving as he pushes the cart out of the store.

-0-

It turns out that leaving Damian at daycare is a way more traumatizing experience for Jason than it is for Damian.

"You can peek on the baby-cam if you need to," the teacher says, pointing at the little camera blinking as it dangles from the ceiling. "All of the information is in the packet."

"Thanks, Nancy," Jason says, smiling and making it another three steps down the hall before he turns and glances back again. One of the other teachers has Damian in her lap, and he seems perfectly content to sit there and let her rock him. "I'll be back just after five."

Nancy smiles patiently. "We'll be here."

"Right," Jason says. He takes a deep breath and makes himself walk out of the building. He doesn't look back as he gets into his car and buckles his seat belt. 

Jason sighs as he starts the car. "Walking out of a building should not be harder than flinging myself off of a roof," he says aloud, pinching his nose. He stays still for a minute before shaking himself and heading to work.

Tyler greets him as he walks into the shop, and Jason changes into his coveralls and gets to work right away. He forces himself to not check the baby-cam more than once an hour, though he can't manage to keep himself from watching it like a hawk for his entire lunch break.

"He seems fine," Tyler comments as he passes Jason at the computer station. "All three of mine screamed their heads off all day long for the first few weeks. Damian looks pretty calm."

"That might be freaking me out a little bit," Jason admits. "I mean, I don't want them to hate him or anything, but he's not even fussing."

"He'll be happy to see you," Tyler promises, clapping Jason on the shoulder. "He's not gonna like them better, I swear."

"Yeah," Jason mutters, standing and following Tyler back into the shop.

Things taper off towards the end of the day, and Tyler sends him home with a grin just before five. "I'm not going to torture you, Nate. Say hi to Nancy for me, and tell her I'm still sorry about the pickle thing."

Jason raises an eyebrow. "Do I even want to know?"

"Don't let a three-year-old help you pack the baby's food for the day," Tyler advises. "You'd think that would be common sense, but occasionally sleep-deprived parents don't think."

"I'll do my best to remember that," Jason says with a snort. "See you tomorrow."

Tyler waves as Jason leaves, and ten minutes later, he's walking-not-running down the hallway of the daycare center. Nancy sees him coming and smiles.

"He's a sweetie," she says as Jason reaches the door of the baby room. "He wasn't thrilled when he woke up from his nap and didn't see his dad, but that's perfectly normal."

"He's not generally thrilled when he wakes up and _does_ see me, either," Jason replies, kicking his shoes off before walking into the room. Damian is on his back beneath a brightly-colored mobile, and he's staring intently at it. Jason crouches next to him and grabs Damian's foot. "Hey, kiddo."

Damian turns his head and blinks at Jason, and Jason grins. "I probably missed you way more than you missed me, huh?"

"Of course he missed you," Nancy says as Jason lifts Damian up. "He'll be plenty happy to get home and spend some time with you, too."

"Still not as glad as me," Jason points out, taking Damian's day bag from Nancy and heading for the door. "Thanks, Nancy."

Nancy waves as Jason walks towards the door. "See you tomorrow, Nate."

Jason buckles Damian into his seat and climbs into the front. He looks back over his shoulder at Damian after starting the car. "Look at you; you're scarred for life, aren't you?"

Damian yawns, letting out a little squeaking sound, and Jason grins. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Your old man's a sap." He turns back to the front and starts heading home. "And someday, you'll understand exactly how bizarre that is."

-0-

They have a busy few weeks, Jason getting back into the swing of things with work while Damian gets more and more used to being at daycare. He gets crankier the longer he's there, Jason has noticed; he's always calmest on Mondays, after they've had the weekend off together and by Friday he's a cranky mess of a kid. Nancy assures him that it's completely normal, but it still makes Jason feel a little guilty, both for leaving a crabby kid with the teachers and for not spending all of his time with Damian.

"Hey," Jason says one morning, walking into Damian's room and finding his son blinking back at him. "Guess what, kiddo? It's Saturday. That means you and me and some cartoons."

Damian squirms in his crib and reaches his arms up. It makes Jason grin as he scoops Damian out of his crib. "I'm thinking a bath for you, some breakfast, and then cartoons on the couch for a while. What do you think?"

Jason keeps talking as he undresses Damian and walks to the bathroom. Ever since Damian discovered that his feet could be used for kicking and splashing, he's become a huge fan of bath time. He's only recently started having his baths in the actual tub instead of in the sink, and Jason is pretty convinced that when he gets a little bigger, nothing in the bathroom will emerge dry from bath time. For now, though, Damian's splashes don't get out of the tub.

"Here we go," Jason says, settling Damian into his tub seat. He'd drawn the water before getting Damian up, and sure enough, as soon as Damian is seated he starts kicking his feet. Jason grins as the water splashes around. He grabs the plastic bath cup and uses it to splash some water onto Damian's belly.

Damian sucks in a breath and Jason stops short. He usually really likes being splashed, but-

Damian's eyes crinkle up and he starts _giggling_.

"Holy shit, that is adorable," Jason says, face cracking into a grin. He pokes Damian's foot. "You have completely ruined my street cred. kiddo."

Damian giggles again and kicks his foot, and Jason breaks into laughter right alongside him.

-0-

Christmas comes and goes. Jason doesn't make a huge deal out of it - or, well, he tries not to, but between Debbie and Tyler and a few other friends he's made in town, Damian somehow ends up with an absolute mountain of stuffed animals and books with bright pictures.

Jason takes to reading a story with Damian every night before bed. There's a rocking chair in Damian's room, and though they've used it sporadically before, it now features prominently in their nightly activities. Jason gets a box for the books and settles it beside the chair, and each night, they sit together and read a story.

"Which one tonight?" Jason asks when they're seated, pulling two books out of the box and holding them in front of Damian. He immediately reaches for _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ , which Jason has determined will be his choice every time he can pick it. Jason grins and puts the other book back into the box. "Yeah, okay, dumb question from Dad. Got it."

They settle back into the chair, and Jason kicks his feet up onto the little foot rest. "In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf," he starts. "One Sunday morning-"

"Geh," Damian says suddenly, slapping his hands against the book. It flips out of Jason's hands and onto the floor, and Damian giggles.

Jason lifts Damian up and turns his son to face him. "Did you just talk?"

"Geh," Damian says again, jamming his fingers into his mouth. He smiles widely, and Jason laughs.

"Nice one, little guy," he says proudly, sitting Damian back into his lap and fishing the book off of the floor. "You gonna read this to me now? Is it your turn?"

Damian mumbles a few nonsense syllables, made even less intelligible by the fingers he's still got in his mouth. He slaps the cover of the book with his free hand, and Jason laughs as he opens it back up. "You got it. One very hungry caterpillar coming up."

-0-

"So," Debbie begins when Jason brings Damian over for dinner. Debbie pulls out the high chair and Jason settles Damian into it, strapping him in and snapping the tray on steadily. "I applied for a grant for the after-school program."

"Yeah?" Jason says, setting the diaper bag down and fishing out Damian's food. "What kind of grant?"

"It's a little involved," Debbie says, smiling at Damian, who babbles back at her. He's gotten pretty talkative since he figured out he could make sounds. "I wrote the proposal a few months ago and submitted it, and I've been waiting to see what they say. I heard back from the Foundation a few days ago, and they said that we've passed the first round of the application process."

"That's great!" Jason says, grinning at Debbie. "So what's next?"

"They're sending someone from Gotham in two weeks," Debbie says, heading into the kitchen. She keeps talking, but Jason is frozen in place. Foundation, grants, Gotham… it can only be the Wayne Foundation. He knows very well what the next step is: they'll send some sort of Foundation representative to do a preliminary evaluation of the program, and if they pass, they'll send a Wayne to do the final evaluation.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit, this is one of Jason's recurring nightmares coming to life right before his eyes.

"-after that," Debbie says, and Jason shakes himself just before she walks back into the room carrying whatever it is that she made for dinner. "I spoke with the chair of the grant committee, though, and he hinted that the application looked promising."

Jason forces a smile. "That's really great, Debbie. When are the reps coming?"

"Well, the first one is in a couple of weeks, like I said, and then they'll schedule something if we pass that," Debbie says as she sets the dish on the table. "I guess they'll take a look at the schedules of all the big shots and see when they can squeeze in a trip out here."

"Well," Jason says, keeping his smile in place by main force, "keep me in the loop."

"Absolutely," Debbie assures him. "We can talk shop later, though. I invited you for a meal, not a business meeting over food."

"Hey, I'm all ears, as long as there's food on my plate," Jason replies, trying to put the Wayne Foundation and Waynes in general out of his head so he can make it through the meal. He can freak out later, when he's by himself.

Debbie grins. "That may be so, but if I keep bringing it up at the dinner table, Ryan is going to take Katy and Chris to McDonald's instead of sitting through it."

Jason is surprised to actually mean the laugh that springs out of him. "Anything but that."

"You'd better believe it," Debbie says. "Let me just round up the troops and we can eat."

"Sounds good," Jason says. Damian whines as Debbie leaves the room again, and Jason taps him on the nose. "Easy there, kiddo. We'll eat soon."

Damian grabs Jason's finger and sticks it into his mouth, chomping pointedly, and Jason once again can't help his laugh.

-0-

Much to Jason's complete lack of surprise, the after-school program sails through the next round of the application process. They're scheduled to get a visit from Bruce's newest stray bird a week after the first visit, and though Jason tries his hardest to have something else to do that day, Debbie specifically asks him to be there. He can't exactly refuse. 

One look at Tim "Wayne" is enough to tell him that he's not B's biological kid, but another glance reveals what Jason had suspected. Talia had told him that the new Robin was a kid named Tim, and Jason might be trying to put all of that behind him, but his memory's as good as it ever was. This guy has the same face as the kid in the outdated photographs that Talia had, even if his hair is slightly longer and way less… angular. Jason watches as he makes his way around the room, giving everyone the smooth playboy smile and making the kind of polite bullshit small talk that Jason himself had never been good at. Jason snorts and makes the command decision to just stay on the other side of the room until the guy leaves.

Of course, he forgets to factor in Hurricane Debbie.

"-don't know how we would've stayed open without him," she says in a last-minute warning before she drags Tiny Tim into his orbit.

Jason pastes a smile on his face and turns to face them. "Debbie exaggerates, Mr. Wayne. I'm Nathan Peterson. Nate."

"A pleasure to meet you, Nate." There's that Brucie-lite smile again. It’s a little creepy on someone so young.

Debbie takes over again, talking about everything that Jason's been doing since he moved into town. Jason smiles and tries to downplay his involvement, but Debbie won't let him. Tim smiles and nods along, and it's not like he's rude about it, but Jason can tell that he's paying way more attention to Jason than he is to what Debbie is saying.

"Hey, I just do what I can when I have time to spare,” Jason says in a last-ditch attempt to break the weird staring contest. "Anyway, this is a way more reliable place for me to get parenting advice than lactivist.com."

Tiny Tim blinks at that and shakes his head a little. Then he narrows his eyes like he's seeing Jason for the first time - like he's only just noticed Jason's ripped jeans, sawdust-coated hair, and probably baby-puke-stained shirt.

"My son is almost seven months old," Jason adds. "I'd spend all my time with him if I could, but single-dad-dom means I work more than I don't." He puts on his most world-weary smile.

The corners of Tim's mouth tighten just a little, and Jason has no idea exactly which raw nerve he just struck, but he knows it's there. That at least gives him a foothold in this non-verbal wrestling match.

"I've got a photo," Jason says, reaching for his wallet. He stops with it halfway out of his pocket and ducks his head a little. "Um. But you're busy, and people talking about their kids is boring. Sorry, it's habit."

Tim's mouth twitches again, and a crease starts to form between his eyes. Bullseye - the kid has daddy issues. Not really surprising from a Bat associate.

"I, uh- I wouldn't know," Tim says quietly. "My father and I haven’t really been on speaking terms since he got out of the hospital."

Shit. That kind of daddy issues. Jason winces and shoves his wallet back into his pocket. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to be insensitive."

"Actually it's refreshing to meet someone who hasn't read my whole life story straight from the tabloids." Tim laughs, and it would almost sound genuine if Jason hadn't spent three years gritting his teeth every time he heard Bruce do his party-laugh.

He smiles at Tim. "Then… you're welcome?"

Tim smiles back, all sharp white teeth and minimal sincerity. "It's part of why I enjoy this work so much. Not everyone is as fortunate as I was in finding a new guardian."

 _That_ Jason believes; it sounds exactly like something Dick would say. He just nods his head. "I'm glad I can help out around here, and I hope we've impressed you enough to get the grant. The money would do a lot of good for the kids."

Tim reaches out and pats him on the shoulder, and Jason can almost _hear_ Dick’s teasing exclamation of “Well said, chum!” This whole day is sending him tripping down nostalgia alley, and that's not where Jason's head needs to be. Ever. 

"I'll see what the Wayne Foundation can do," Tim says, and then, thank God, he walks away.

Jason hangs around until the end of the grant meet-and-greet, and as soon as Tim leaves, he breathes a sigh of relief. He talks to Debbie for a few minutes before making his excuses and going to get Damian from daycare. Jason is in a decent mood, all told; that could have been way more disastrous than it had been.

-0-

There's a knock at the door as Jason is warming up Damian's mashed potatoes. Damian makes an angry noise as Jason puts the container on the counter, and Jason snorts. "Easy, buddy. Debbie is bringing some shoes over so you have something to wear until I can get you to the shoe store."

Damian whines and reaches for his food.

Jason rolls his eyes. "If you don't want to go shopping, stop growing," he suggests, walking to the door and pulling it open. "Hey, thanks for – you're not Debbie."

"Um, no," Tim Wayne says, blinking at him. "I've been called a lot of things in my life, but Debbie isn't one I've gotten before."

"Mr. Wayne," Jason says, pasting on his best suburban single dad smile and hoping he doesn't look as freaked out as he feels. He should’ve known that he'd been recognized. Fuck, this is it, this has to be it; why else would Batman Junior be on his doorstep?

"It's Drake," he says, and now it's Jason's turn to blink. "Not Wayne. May I come in, Mr. Peterson?"

Jason opens his mouth to object, to ask why, to say something, but Damian chooses that exact moment to start protesting exactly how far away Jason had left the mashed potatoes. The wailing starts off at Damian-con Three, which means that he'll be wailing himself sick before too much longer, so Jason steps back and gestures Tim in. "Come on in. The monster is hungry, though, so whatever you're here for is gonna have to wait until he's done eating."

Jason walks down the hallway, trusting that Tim will close the door behind him, even if he does seem to be operating at less than normal Bat-standards. Jason is just sitting down beside Damian when Tim walks in, hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans. Jason waves at a seat across the table as Damian reaches for his food.

"Making grabby hands at it won't scoot it closer, kiddo," Jason says, picking up the spoon and stirring the potatoes. They're still plenty warm enough for Damian to enjoy them, so Jason scoops up a spoonful and hands the spoon to his son.

Damian holds the handle with both hands, one over the other, and guides it somewhat haphazardly to his mouth. Most of the potatoes make it in, and Jason can't help the grin. "You're getting good at that, little man. Not good enough for me to give you a fork, but maybe you can try scooping your own potatoes out of the bowl after a little more practice."

Jason looks up at the quiet laugh from across the table. Tim is smiling at them, watching as Damian hands his spoon back to Jason and waits ever so patiently for another spoonful. Jason scoops out more and hands it back, observing as Tim watches Damian feed himself, apparently entranced by the miraculous sight. Jason knows how much of a miracle it actually is, since he has vivid memories of Damian's first attempts at feeding himself, but it's not something that's usually so entrancing to people who are not Jason.

The rest of Damian's meal passes in pretty much the same way, and when Damian finishes his potatoes, Jason cleans his face and pulls him out of the high chair. After a quick diaper check, Jason jerks his chin at the doorway. "C'mon. Living room is this way, and we usually put on some cartoons and do our workouts after he eats."

Tim follows, still without speaking, as Jason makes his way into the living room. He puts Damian into his jumper seat and flicks on Damian's favorite episode of _Tom and Jerry_. Damian immediately starts bouncing along, so Jason gets down on the floor beside him and starts doing his push-ups.

Jason keeps waiting for Tim to say something, but he just sits on the sofa, watching them do their nightly routine. Jason is about to break the silence when Damian does it for him. "Da!"

Jason snickers when Tim jumps. "Yeah, I'm right here, cool your jets. I've got another set to go before you get out of there." He pushes himself through his set quickly, then sits up and starts his cool-down stretches. "So, Mr. Drake-not-Wayne, why are you interrupting workout time?"

"What?"

"I'm guessing that this isn't a social call," Jason says. "You clearly know who I am, and you've been obnoxiously quiet about watching kiddo and I doing our thing. Next is bath time, though, and that's not a spectator sport unless you really like being in the splash zone."

Damian shouts something incomprehensible, slapping his hands against the tray of his jumper seat. It's a preview of things to come, Jason knows. There's a reason he usually just wears a pair of board shorts when he's giving Damian a bath.

"Um. I didn't mean to interrupt, I just thought… I know you are who I think you are, and I figured you deserved a courtesy call. A chance to take back what's yours." Tim shrugs. "That seems kind of stupid now."

Jason pauses with Damian halfway out of his jumper seat. "You're quitting?" 

Tim won't meet his eyes. "I think I'm about to be fired. There are, ah, issues between Bruce and my father, and neither of them is happy with the compromises I have to make."

Damian wriggles impatiently, so Jason takes a deep breath and finishes lifting him out of his seat. He takes a long moment to settle Damian against his hip before he answers. "That's… huh. I guess I never had to think about the whole 'actually having a parent around' thing. Sorry it's sucking."

"Yeah," Tim says quietly. "Between that and losing Superboy I'm not sure how long the Titans can stay together, and without them... well, it's been a rough year."

Jason closes his eyes for a second. "I heard about that. I'm sorry."

"Me too," Tim says, clearing his throat. "So, yeah, with everything going on, I'm pretty sure my position is going to be terminated soon."

"That makes me wonder how much longer I would've lasted if I hadn't croaked on him," Jason muses.

"He almost quit during my first year," Tim says as he stands. "He let someone else use the costume, and… well, it wasn't good. Nothing's been the same since then."

All Jason can do is stare. "He almost quit. This is the same guy in the suit, right?"

Tim nods, and Jason blows out a breath. "Shit, he really did fall apart after I died, didn't he?"

"Shi!" Damian exclaims gleefully. "Shi shi shi!"

"Aw, Christ, Dami. No. Bad word," Jason says, waving his free hand in Damian's direction. "Daddy said a bad word, stop saying it or Miss Debbie is going to pinch my nose again."

Damian gives him a considering look. "Bee?"

Jason nods. "Yeah, Debbie."

"Beebeebeebee!"

Tim laughs again, but the smile evaporates off of his face when Jason looks over. He shrugs. "I just want to make sure someone's there to watch his back when I'm not around anymore."

Jason sighs. "It isn't going to be me. Even if I wanted to work with him again, I'm a little preoccupied at the moment." He pauses. "Have you talked to N?"

That makes Tim make a face. "N won't be any more inclined to fill those shoes than he was when you died."

"How does B suck so bad at fixing his issues?"

Tim shrugs again. "I'm starting to think Thomas Wayne doesn't deserve his pedestal. B has a few too many daddy issues."

God, does Jason ever know. He lets out a breath and looks down at Damian. "You know who his mom is, right? B has to have figured it out by now."

Tim looks at Damian carefully, then back at Jason, and his eyes open so widely that it looks like they're going to fall out of his head. "Oh my God, that's-"

"Seriously?" Jason cuts him off. "He didn't say anything during your check-in call?"

"I didn't tell him you were down here," Tim replies flatly. "Also, how the hell-"

"Birds and bees, and what do you mean, you didn't _tell him_? Isn't that part of your job?"

"I wanted to talk to you first, before he... overreacted." Tim meets his eyes firmly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jason closes his eyes. "So he doesn't know I'm here. He's not… he doesn't even known Damian is mine?"

"No," Tim says. "I thought you wanted it that way."

"I do. I… I really, really do." Jason opens his eyes and offers a smile. It feels really small on his face, but it's all he can manage.

Tim smiles back. "His name is Damian?"

"Yeah.," Jason says, ruffling Damian's hair. "His mother named him before she had him brought to me, and it's the one thing she gave him that he can hold onto, so…"

That makes Tim frown. "She's not… in touch?"

"She makes a monthly deposit into a bank account that I have yet to draw from. I'm calling it his college fund. Other than that, no, we don't hear from her. It's… a lot safer." Jason sighs and shifts Damian to his other hip. "If her father found out that she not only had a kid, but had one with me, I think 'all hell would break loose' would be an understatement."

"Agreed," Tim says, reaching out when Damian, apparently bored, reaches for Tim. He latches onto Tim's finger and yanks, which is his favorite game this week. Tim looks surprised, then grins. "He's pretty strong."

"He's my kid," Jason says proudly. "Look, I don't want to rush you, but if you're not planning to crash on my sofa, I'm gonna have to kick you out for the night. I'm working early, so he and I need to be up and out by quarter after six."

"Oh," Tim says, clearly startled. "No, I… if I don't get back home by eleven, my dad will flip out."

Jason rubs Damian's back before sliding his hand up to push Damian's head into his chest, effectively covering his ears. "Look, Tim, if you… I know it gets shitty. Don't let B push you around, and if you need to get away for a night, or just to rant, you clearly know where to find me."

Tim smiles and pulls a wallet from his pocket, fishing out a business card and handing it over. Jason manages to not let Damian grab it, which definitely counts as a victory. "That's my email and phone number. The actual ones, not the Wayne-related ones. It would be nice to hear something that's not all about business." He waves at Damian. "Maybe get a story about a happy kid every so often."

"I can probably come up with a few of those," Jason promises. "I'll leave out 'screaming' kid, 'seriously pissed that we don't have an actual pet' kid, and definitely 'double ear infection' kid, but happy I can manage."

That gets him a laugh. "Thanks… Nate." Tim heads for the door and pauses before stepping outside. "Goodnight, Damian. It was nice to meet you."

Damian waves, babbling as he does so, and Tim laughs as he walks to his car. Jason can't help but grin after him.

He really, really never expected to actually _like_ the guy who replaced him. Go figure.

-0-

Things get busy after Tim makes his way back to Gotham. Jason manages to get Damian two pairs of shoes, both of which he hates; he returns the ones that Debbie brought over just in time for her to get a new foster child, a boy slightly smaller than Damian. He and Riley become fast friends, and between work and switching off watching the kids with Debbie, time flies.

It's two weeks before Jason pulls Tim's business card off of the refrigerator and sits down with his laptop. He has to grin when he sees the email address printed across the back in neat handwriting.

__**To: birdwatchingingotham@wmail.com  
From: nate.peterson07762@wmail.com  
Subject: hey**

_So, you said to email. Here's an email. Small-town life is sometimes boring as hell, and I still can't find time to do half the shit I want to do. Damian is with Debbie right now, though, so I figured I'd see what was going on back in the Big City. How's the bossman? How's your charming older brother?_

_-Nate_

Jason scans the message a few times before shrugging and sending it. He checks his watch and then carries the laptop into the kitchen, setting it on the counter. Debbie will be bringing the boys over in an hour or so, and he's responsible for feeding them while Debbie goes to a PTA meeting.

He barely gets the chance to put the water on the stove before his computer pings. Jason turns the stove on before walking back to the table and sitting down.

__**To: nate.peterson07762@wmail.com  
From: birdwatchingingotham@wmail.com  
Subject: Re: hey**

_Hey Nate,_

_Things in Gotham are fine. I'm pretty busy with work - my after-school job and my unpaid internship are both kind of demanding right now. Some days it feels like getting two hours of sleep is a victory._

_How's Damian doing? Has he hit any major milestones lately? I was looking at some child development websites the other day, and depending on which one you look at, he should be starting to either crawl or sit up soon. It's actually kind of amazing how quickly kids develop at that age. I'm sure I learned it in school at some point, but looking at it again was really surprising._

_Bossman is his usual self. Take that as you will. Dick is also doing well. Should I be jealous that you find my older brother more charming than you find me?_

_-Tim_

Jason can't help his grin. He taps out a quick reply.

_Well, he **is** pretty charming, or so he'll tell you. Don't worry, though, you're still the charmingest of them all. Gotta go make food for the kidlets. I'll send you stories after Damian goes to sleep._

Dinner is a lively event, the way it can only be when you have two kids under the age of one to feed at the same time. Jason is getting more and more practiced at it, though, so he manages to get through it without causing any inter-baby incidents, or accidents from which the kitchen will never recover. Riley drops off not long after, and by the time Debbie swings by to pick him up, Damian is drooping as well. It's easy enough to get him to sleep, and then Jason is sitting on the sofa, staring at the blinking cursor.

What the hell is he supposed to say?

He ends up typing up a few random stories about Damian, one from school and another from their adventures in the park the week before. Damian, Jason had learned, is not a fan of sand, nor sandboxes. He attaches a few photos - Damian making faces at the sandbox, Damian reading an upside-down copy of _If You Give A Mouse A Cookie_ , Damian with each arm around a different stuffed animal as he naps between them - and sends it off.

Jason waits at his computer for almost fifteen full minutes before swearing and shaking his head. Of course he's not going to reply, Jason berates himself. _He's a Bat. He's flying around Gotham right now_.

"Punch somebody hard for me," Jason says out loud, then shuts his computer and flicks on his television.

-0-

Jason emails Tim back and forth for a few weeks before The Unfortunate Incident with Damian and his sippy cup. He sighs when the computer tech tells him he'll be better off just replacing the thing than trying to repair it. It's a few days before he remembers that Tim had sent the last email, and he debates for about fifteen minutes before grabbing his phone and tapping out a text. _hey its nate. d spilled juice on my pc and fried it. is texting ok or should i wait until i get a new laptop?_

He gets a return text in under five minutes. _Texting is fine. How did he spill his juice? Aren't those cups supposed to be spill-proof?_

Jason snorts. _hes ten months old. nothing is damian proof._

They continue texting even after Jason replaces his laptop. It's easier to type the longer stories out on the new laptop, but they've gotten used to texting, so they end up doing both. Jason's phone buzzes fairly often, but he doesn't really realize how much until Tyler raises an eyebrow one day.

"Do you have someone auditioning for the role of Damian's step-mom?" he asks, tossing Jason's phone at him. "This thing has been dinging at me for twenty minutes, Peterson."

Jason wipes his hand on a grease rag and thumbs through his texts. Apparently Tim felt the need to text him a story, complete with photographic evidence, of something vaguely Dick-related. Jason grins at his phone and starts to tap a message back, but Tyler clears his throat.

"It's just a friend," Jason says, waving his phone around. "No step-mom for Damian."

"Right," Tyler drawls. "Pull the other one. Is she good with Damian?"

Jason raises an eyebrow. "It's not a she."

"Is _he_ good with Damian?" Tyler says without missing a beat. "Because if he isn't, you should figure out if he's willing to work on that. My brother's second wife didn't like kids, which is a big part of the reason they didn't last too long."

"We're not dating," Jason repeats. "He's a friend of mine from back home. We're just… catching up."

"Nate," Tyler says, "he's been texting you almost constantly for a little over an hour. I saw some pictures come through, too. You looked at them all, smiled like he'd sent you pictures of your own kid, and started to text him back immediately, because you forgot I was standing here."

"Uh," Jason says, slipping his phone into his pocket. "Well, okay, when you put it that way-"

"Yeah," Tyler agrees, grinning. "Is he local?"

"No, and I don't think either of us is willing to relocate right now, so that makes it a moot point," Jason says, wiping his hands again and turning back to the car he's got half apart. "Can I finish Mrs. McCloskey's carburetor now?"

Tyler waves a hand. "Whatever floats your boat, man."

Jason waits until Tyler is back in the office to pull his phone out and text Tim back.

-0-

Jason mostly uses his phone for texting. There are people who have his phone number, sure, but other than Tim, most of the people he talks to regularly are people he sees on an everyday basis. Therefore, when his phone rings midday on a rainy Friday at the shop, it takes a moment for Jason to realise that it's for him.

"This is Nate," he answers on the last ring. The number isn't one that he recognized, but the exchange is local. He's hoping it's not Damian's daycare.

"Nate!" Debbie replies excitedly. "I just got the news!"

"News?" Jason says, frowning a little. As far as he knows, Debbie and Ryan aren't trying to foster another kid right now, so-

"The grant!" Debbie says. "We're getting every penny that we asked for, and the money will be available by the end of the month!"

Jason feels himself smile widely. "That's awesome, Debbie. I'm so happy for you."

"Be happy for yourself, too," she says, and Jason wonders for a moment if she's been talking to Tyler. Then again, though, Tyler doesn't know that he's been talking to Tim specifically, or even who Tim is, so that's probably not it. Jason shakes his head and focuses on what Debbie's saying. "You're such a big part of the program. Nate. I wasn't just blowing smoke when I told Tim Wayne what an asset you were."

"Thanks, Debbie," Jason replies, clearing his throat a little. "So, what's the first step with the money?"

Debbie talks excitedly about her plan, which is exactly as detailed and thoughtful as Jason had figured it would be. She has lists of materials and resources that she wants to get, both for the students and for the tutors, and has ideas about new training regimens and ways to draw more kids to the program. "I can email you the proposal if you want all the details," she says.

"That would be great," Jason replies. "Let me know if there's anything you need my help with, okay? I'm really good at moving heavy boxes of books from one place to another."

"I'll let you know," Debbie laughs. "I've got to get back to work. I just wanted to let you know that the money came through, and to thank you for helping us make a good impression."

"Glad I could help," Jason says. He looks up as the bell over the door rings and someone walks in. "I'll talk to you later, Debbie."

Jason helps the customer pick out new headlights and installs them, but once he's finished, he's once again left with nothing to do. It's the kind of slow day that would normally lead to Tyler sending him home early, but Tyler's home with one of his kids today, so Jason is on his own in the shop. After fifteen minutes of waiting for another customer without success, Jason takes out his phone.

_debbies thrilled about the grant. thanks for coming through on that one_

Tim texts back almost instantly. _It was a no-brainer. She sold me on it pretty much instantly._

 _i think she thinks i flirted you into it_ , Jason sends back.

 _Anyone who puts that much effort into an after-school program and gets results on the budget she was working with deserves the chance to do more with more._ Jason's phone dings while he's reading the first text, and the second reads, _Wait, what?_

Jason grins. _not actually. probably. i think_

_I don't even know how to reply to that._

_failure of imagination? didnt think that would be a problem you had, timmy_ , Jason sends back. _btw how are you not busy right now? i thought you did shit during the days_

_It's funny, but they tend not to make faces at the intern when he's semi-related to the boss. Even if he is texting under the table at a board meeting._

This time Jason laughs out loud. _youre insane and b is going to kill you. text me later when youre actually free_

_Absolutely._

The rest of the day isn't any busier, but Jason's good mood sticks around anyway.

-0-

Jason's phone rings about fifteen minutes after he gets Damian to sleep. This time, the number is one that's stored in his phone, and Jason is grinning when he answers it. "Hey. I was wondering if you were gonna get the chance to text me before you went out tonight."

"I hope it's okay to call," Tim replies. "I figured Damian would be asleep, and honestly, I'm too wiped out to text right now. My grammar would be atrocious."

"Oh, the horror," Jason says, gasping dramatically as he flops across his bed. "Bad grammar is unacceptable. I mean, you've seen the quality standards I have on text messages, right?"

Tim laughs, and it makes Jason grin. "Well, it would bother me, so. Calling is okay?"

"It's fine," Jason assures. "Are you going out later?"

"I have a night off," Tim says, and his tone of voice is a mixture between awe and satisfaction. "I coordinated with N and BG, and they agreed to split my territory for tonight. B signed off on it, and I told my dad I was sleeping at a friend's tonight. I'm at my apartment, hanging out in my pajamas and not doing anything that requires actual pants."

Jason knows he's probably got a really goofy expression on his face. "So you get a night all to yourself and you decide to spend it talking to me?"

"Well," Tim says. There's no explanation after that, and Jason would swear he can feel Tim blushing through the phone.

"It's totally fine," Jason says. "So, who did you piss off in that board meeting by texting me?"

Tim snorts. "Oh no, that was at least forty percent revenge against someone who pissed me off first," he replies, and then they're just having a normal conversation, catching each other up on things that they haven't already shared, adding details to things they have, and generally having a pretty good time.

"I forgot how nice it is to just talk," Tim says after a while. "It's relaxing. Fun. I don't feel like I'm going to be graded on how much detail I do or don't include."

"Oh, you're getting graded," Jason replies with a grin. "A+ all around, ten out of ten, would talk on the phone with this person again. Highly recommended."

He can hear Tim inhale sharply, and it abruptly occurs to Jason exactly how much he's been flirting in this conversation. It's been in the back of his mind lately, between Tyler openly pointing it out and his joke about Debbie earlier, but as he quickly reviews the phone call, he realizes that he's kind of been pouring it on.

"Sorry," he says after a moment. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No," Tim says immediately. "No, not - I'm not uncomfortable."

"Oh?"

Tim laughs, and it sounds self-conscious. "I hear 'try harder' or 'do that again, only better' more than I hear 'good job.' You know how it is."

Jason closes his eyes and tells himself that he doesn't get to be angry at Bruce on Tim's behalf. It only works a little, and only then because he can see Tim in his mind's eye, crossing his arms over his chest and narrowing his eyes. "Yeah. I know. Don't let him make you think you're not awesome, okay? I'm making that a rule."

"You're giving me rules now?" Tim asks, but he sounds closer to himself now. "I missed the memo on that."

"Rule one: Tim is awesome," Jason declares. "All other rules are secondary to this rule, and if they contradict it, the secondary rule will be set on fire and never mentioned again."

"I'll get on that," Tim says with what sounds like genuine amusement now, and not self-deprecation. "I might need some more matches, though."

"Tell you what, you bring all those rules with you next time you're out in this direction, and we'll have a bonfire," Jason suggests. "Damian needs to be introduced to s'mores. I hear flaming rules are excellent for burning marshmallows."

"Toasting marshmallows," Tim corrects.

Jason grins. "Clearly you've never made s'mores with a true master. The charcoal coating on the marshmallow is essential to the overall flavor and texture of the s'more. Also, how do you melt the chocolate if the marshmallow isn't on fire?"

"Oh my God," Tim says, now groaning. "That sounds awful!"

"Heathen," Jason teases. He takes a deep breath before going on. "So, I know that getting away from all you've got going on is a trial, but we should catch up in person when you can manage it." He pauses. "I'd come to you, but-"

"No, no," Tim interrupts. "I have no idea when I'll have a free day next, but I'll take a look, okay? Don't do anything that would compromise your security."

"I won't," Jason promises. "You let me know when you're free and I'll make sure we are, too. It's a date." There's a long pause, and Jason pinches the bridge of his nose and very carefully doesn't sigh at himself. "I mean-"

"You can mean that," Tim says, sounding a little nervous. "If that's what you meant."

"Maybe we can talk about that," Jason replies, tightening his grip on his phone. "In person. Because… yeah. In person."

There's another pause, but Tim takes a breath before Jason can start kicking himself again. "Yeah. In person. I should… not next weekend, I know there's something I'm doing then, but maybe the weekend after?"

"Damian's birthday is next weekend," Jason replies. "There's nothing happening the weekend after that, though. Check your schedule and let me know for sure. I'm usually off on weekends anyway, but if I know you're coming out I'll make sure I'm not working."

"Okay," Tim says. It sounds like he's smiling. "Okay, that sounds… great, actually. I'm going into the office on Monday, so I'll text you then."

"Sounds good," Jason replies, grinning up at the ceiling. "Have a good night off, okay?"

"I already did," Tim says. "Talking to you was… good. And now I'm going to sleep, so there's no way it can get worse."

Jason twists so he can see the clock on the bedstand. "It's barely ten PM."

"I'm in my senior year of high school in addition to working two part-time jobs, both of which feel like full-time jobs," Tim says dryly. "And we don’t have as many hands on deck as we used to. I have a sleep debt that I'll still be paying off when I'm fifty."

Jesus, that's a hell of a way to describe losing three junior costumed heroes in six months. Jason has heard a lot of stories about Superboy and Kid Flash since Tim sent him a new encryption cipher “to test for WE,” and Tim is starting to talk about Spoiler a little, too, now that some time has passed since she died. Jason swallows hard as he thinks about it, a surge of fear clogging his throat. “You’re being careful out there, right?”

"I - yeah, I'm trying. It's a little better now that my dad has a girlfriend; he's eased up on the Family Bonding Time."

Jason scowls, safe in the knowledge that Tim can't see his face. Tim's father barely deserves the title. Leaving your kid for months at a time, barely being present when you are home, and expecting him to be a dancing monkey when it's convenient for you? He can't even fathom doing that to Damian. But they've had this fight before, and Jason isn't going to make Tim rehash it when he's supposed to be winding down for sleep.

So he just sighs. "Watch your back out there. And if it gets dicey, if you think you're on your own... well, you're not."

"Su casa es mi casa?" Tim says lightly, like he thinks Jason can't hear his nervous huffs of breath.

"Yeah. Sleep well, Tim." 

"You too. I'll talk to you on Monday."

"G'night," Jason says, hanging up quickly before they can do that lingering-on-the-phone thing. It's always struck him as ridiculous, but he can sort of see the appeal.

He puts his phone on the bed and covers his face with his hands. "How did this even happen?"

-0-

Damian starts clapping his hands as soon as Jason pulls the stroller out of the closet in the hallway. Jason managed to swing the whole weekend off, so he and Damian get to spend his entire birthday weekend together. Today is phase one of Operation: Celebrate The Shit Out Of Damian's Existence.

Tomorrow there will be cake, but today he and Damian are going to the zoo.

"I know, buddy," Jason says as Damian waves his hands in the air and yells. "The zoo is pretty awesome. All those animals just waiting for you to illegally feed them popcorn."

Damian grins, big and bright, and shoves a few fingers in his mouth. Jason grabs a pacifier off of the table and pulls a switch, fingers for pacifier, before propping the stroller against the wall near the door and heading back into the kitchen. If Damian is teething enough to chew on his own hand, it's probably a good plan to put some of those cold chew toy things in the insulated compartment of the diaper bag. Jason makes a face as he thinks about what sort of shit Damian might find and stick in his mouth at the zoo if he isn't given something clean to gnaw on.

"Okay," Jason announces as he goes back into the living room. "Zoo time. You ready for zoo time? Because Daddy is _so_ ready for zoo time."

Damian pulls the pacifier out of his mouth and throws it across the room, babbling excitedly as he reaches up, making grabby fists. Jason pulls him out of the jumper seat and slings the diaper bag over his shoulder, steering the stroller out the door one-handed. He gets everything into the car with an ease that almost startles him, mostly because it would have seemed impossible only a few months ago. Jason jogs back to lock the door before climbing into the car. "Okay, we've got everything. Time to go see some animals."

Damian babbles most of the way there, which keeps Jason in a pretty good mood. The drive passes quickly, and Damian has only had the time to take off his left shoe and sock by the time Jason parks the car. It's easy enough to get him into the stroller; it's a little harder to get the shoe and sock back on, but that's mostly because Damian thinks it's hilarious to kick at Jason's face when he leans in. Jason grins and tickles the top of Damian's foot, making him shriek loudly enough to startle the gulls looking for food a few parking spaces over.

"Good deal," Jason says while he fastens the Velcro on Damian's shoe. "You have to keep those on, little guy. No shirt, no shoes, no service, got it?"

Damian blinks as Jason stands up, grabbing the diaper bag and settling it in the sling behind the baby seat. He does a last check to make sure he's got everything before locking the car and pushing the stroller towards the entrance.

The woman at the ticket counter coos over Damian, who gives his gummy, four-toothed smile and waves. She hands Jason their tickets as well as a balloon, which makes Damian's eyes go so wide that Jason has to grin. He ties the ribbon to the handle of the stroller before handing the balloon to Damian. "Don't chew on it, Dami, or you'll pop it."

The woman laughs. "He can have another if he does."

"He won't want another," Jason replies. "That loud, right in his face? We'll be all done with the zoo, and good luck getting him back."

"Well, let's hope that doesn't happen, then," the woman says, handing him a zoo map and pointing him towards the most kid-friendly areas. Jason thanks her and starts pushing again, studying the sign post and deciding to check out the huge animals first.

"Elephants," Jason says as they get close to the enclosure. There's a stroller parking area, so Jason steers over and unbuckles Damian's belt, lifting him out and heading for the enclosure. "Big, gray lumps with even bigger noses. They're super smart, so don't let anyone tell you any different, okay?"

Damian sticks his fingers in his mouth and stares solemnly at Jason. It's somewhere between a moment of communication and Damian being exasperated because Daddy isn't making any sense, so Jason hikes the last few steps and points into the enclosure. "Look, kiddo. Elephants."

The problem with the elephants is that they're not really doing anything that a twelve-month-old kid is going to find interesting, so while Jason would be happy to watch them snuffle around in the grass for a while, Damian gets bored pretty fast. Jason sticks him back in the stroller and they continue their tour of the large animal exhibits. The lions and tigers don't impress Damian, but the giraffes are a big hit; he leans so far back in Jason's arms to stare up at them that Jason is a little worried he's going to get dizzy when he sits back up. He's got a huge smile on his face when he does, though, so Jason just grins back and points. "Giraffes, Damian."

"Raff," Damian repeats obediently. "Raff, raff."

"Close enough," Jason replies, strapping him back into his stroller. "What should we see next? We've got some bears and a rhino exhibit over here before we start getting into smaller animals." The rhino is probably going to be another boring one, so Jason decides to save it for when Damian is a little older, heading for the bears instead.

They strike out with the brown bears and black bears, but the zoo has a big panda exhibit, and they've always made Jason smile, so he stops instead of walking past. "Last bears, buddy, I promise. We'll go to the monkeys next. You'll probably love those."

Jason settles Damian on his hip and walks to the side of the enclosure. It's half-open and half-glass, so there's an area where you can get right up close and personal with the pandas if they're in the mood. There's a bear right behind the glass as Jason walks up, so he heads over and holds Damian so he can see it.

"Da," Damian breathes, pitching forward and catching himself on the glass with both hands. Jason glances down, surprised to find that Damian's eyes are huge and he's got a delighted smile on his face.

"See, no way you're not my kid. The panda thing has to be genetic," Jason says, shifting a little closer to the glass. "They're awesome."

Damian thumps his hands against the glass and the panda swings to face them, which makes Damian shriek with laughter. He presses back against Jason, looking up and baby babbling as fast as he can.

"I know, right? They're pretty cute. All that bamboo."

Damian giggles and presses his whole face against the glass again. Jason makes a face, but he's not licking it, so Jason will let it slide for now.

They sit at the panda exhibit for a while, but the bear eventually gets bored and walks off. Damian starts whining, so Jason decides it's lunch time, and Damian quickly changes his tune when Jason buys some incredibly overpriced fast food and a tiny cup of Italian ice for them to share. 

The afternoon starts with the monkeys, which Damian seems to enjoy less than the panda, and from there they walk through the reptiles and the birds pretty quickly. Jason swings by the panda exhibit on the way out of the zoo, but none of them are close enough for Damian to get excited about, so Jason pushes him towards the gift shop.

"Time for a birthday souvenir," Jason says, unbuckling Damian and setting him on his feet. "Pick something that isn't glass. I vote panda book, but hey, it's your choice."

"Panda," Damian says clearly, smiling when Jason looks surprised. "Panda panda?"

"Well, we can't get a real one, but there's probably a stuffed one around here somewhere," Jason replies, looking around. One of the cashiers is smiling at them, so Jason grabs Damian's hand and walks over to her. "Hi. Apparently someone fell in love with the pandas today. Got anything for that sort of affliction?"

The woman laughs, leaning over the counter to smile at Damian, who apparently decides it's time for the shy act, ducking behind Jason's leg. "You liked the pandas, huh? They're pretty cute, but not as cute as you."

Damian sticks his head out, smiling up at the cashier. "Panda?"

She points to the far corner of the store. "There's panda things over there."

"Panda," Damian says determinedly, walking a few steps and tugging Jason behind him. "Daddy, panda!"

"Yeah, I heard," Jason says, grinning as Damian leads him through the store. He's tall enough to see over the displays, so he knows when they're getting close, but he's not in any way prepared for Damian's reaction when he turns the corner and sees row after row of stuffed pandas. He lets out a screech like Jason has only heard a few times, drops Jason's hand, and runs for the bottom row, both hands held in front of him. He pretty much buries himself in a giant stuffed panda's fur, sinking his fists into its side and pushing his face in.

Jason laughs. "Why do I feel like you found the one you want?"

"Panda," Damian says into the toy's side, and when he turns his head to look at Jason, he's got the hugest smile on his face. Jason grins and snaps a picture on his phone, because there's no way that Debbie won't want to see this.

"True love at first sight," Jason says. "Can you even pick that thing up? Bring me the panda, Damian."

Damian stands and grabs the panda by the ears, tugging until it flops off the shelf and onto the floor. He gets both hands around one paw and pulls, trudging backwards until he's in front of Jason, panda in both fists. "Daddy! Panda!"

"You got him," Jason agrees, leaning down and grabbing the stuffed panda. He takes Damian's hand and stands, navigating them back to the counter. The cashier laughs when she sees what Jason is carrying.

"It's bigger than he is," she says, smiling. "I take it that's your purchase?"

Jason ends up getting a few kid-friendly books about various animals and the zoo in general, and then he packs Damian back into the stroller and heads for the car. There's a moment of fussing when Jason tries to put the panda in the trunk, but once he figures out how to get it strapped into the seat beside Damian, all is apparently well in the world.

"So, kiddo, you liked the zoo?" Jason asks as he slides into the driver's seat.

Damian doesn't look up from where he's petting his new friend. "Panda."

"Yeah, somehow I knew that was going to be your answer," Jason replies, grinning. "I'll take it."

-0-

Damian's party is small but memorable; somehow Jason ends up wearing more cake than his son does, and Damian looks incredibly pleased in the photo Debbie took before Jason cleaned himself off. He's pretty sure that he's going to be finding icing in random places in the dining room for months, but all in all, it was a great way to celebrate Damian's first birthday.

Jason texts the photo of him covered in cake to Tim. He's been fairly quiet all weekend, which has really highlighted to Jason just how much he and Tim have been talking. Tim had even said that he'd be busy this weekend, so it's not like Jason wasn't expecting a decrease in random texts throughout the day, but he still feels a little disappointed when his phone doesn't immediately ding with Tim's reply.

They've got plans for Tim to visit next weekend, which is both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. There's no doubt in Jason's mind that the visit is going to involve a fairly serious relationship conversation; Jason doesn't want to start anything that would affect Damian without talking about it first, and everything he knows about Tim gives him the feeling that he'll want to figure out a lot of things before getting involved. It's good, really, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier to think about.

Damian is napping off his sugar high, so Jason takes the opportunity to do some clean-up from the party. He'd invited a few neighbors, some people he works with at the after-school program, and Tyler; it's not like he'd expected them to blow him off, but there had been more people in the house than he'd actually expected. Damian had loved it, though, showing Panda off to anyone and everyone, so Jason is pretty okay with how things turned out.

Damian wakes up after about an hour, and Jason spends a while helping him sort through his various gifts. There are a lot of books, which is great; Damian spends a while putting them in the book box and taking them out again, rearranging them until they're in whatever he's decided the best order is. He leafs through a few of them, pointing out random pages and babbling to Jason.

"Yeah, it looks great," Jason says. He's taking the opportunity to pull some of Damian's summer clothes from the dresser; it's going to be way too cold for him to wear them soon, so he's making room for some warmer stuff. "Pick a few of them out and we can read them as soon as I'm done with the clothes crap, okay?"

"Book," Damian says, slapping the pages of the one he's got open.

"Two words in two days," Jason says, grinning. "At this rate, you'll actually be able to hold a conversation soon."

"Book," Damian repeats, standing and walking over to where Jason is standing. He tugs on Jason's pants with one hand and points insistently back at the books that are more spread across the floor than they are in their box. "Daddy book."

Jason laughs and scoops him up. "You know, I can't really say no to that. Here's hoping you're always a fan of reading like this."

Daman picks one of his new books and they read it together. Jason isn't surprised when Damian's second choice is _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ ; Jason thought he'd grow out of it, but Damian loves it as much now as he had when he was smaller. They have at least three copies of it, including a little board-book version that lives in Damian's diaper bag. It's well known as Damian's favorite, and everyone had laughed during the party when Damian had torn into two of the same stuffed caterpillar pillow pets.

They eat a light dinner and settle in to watch some cartoons. Damian is using Panda as a pillow and has one of the stuffed caterpillars in each hand. He shifts around on Panda a few times before frowning. "Panda," he says, voice doing the trembling thing that means he's probably about to either whine a lot or skip straight to the tears.

"What's wrong with Panda?" Jason asks.

Damian digs his feet into the sofa and pushes back against Panda. There's not a lot of give, probably because Damian hasn't hit the twenty-pound mark yet and Panda is pretty full. Damian whines again, and Jason smiles. "Stuffed too well, huh?"

"Panda," Damian repeats, flopping into Jason's lap. He's clearly still exhausted from his day, nap or no.

"I'll see what I can do," Jason says. He's not exactly a master at sewing, but he can probably handle pulling a little of the stuffing out of Panda to make it squishier. If he gets it apart and can't get it back together, he's pretty sure Ryan will be able to fix it without an issue, so he's got that as a backup plan, too. "Are you ready for bed, buddy?"

"Sleepy," Damian agrees, rubbing at his nose. "Up."

Jason smiles as he lifts Damian, cradling him against his chest. Damian grabs Jason's shirt in one hand and drags a caterpillar with him in the other. He's still in the occasional habit of sucking on shirts, especially while he's tired, so Jason isn't really surprised when he feels a wet spot spreading after a few minutes.

"Okay, little guy," Jason says after about half an hour. Damian is almost completely asleep, and he barely whines when Jason stands. "It's bedtime for little birthday boys, and then it's time for Daddy to see how Tim's weekend was."

Damian doesn't protest when Jason changes him and puts him in his crib. He'll probably need to figure out a new sleeping arrangement for Damian soon, but Jason stubbornly puts that out of his head for the time being. He heads back downstairs and stretches out on the sofa before pulling his phone out and texting Tim. _hey did you get the cake pic earlier?_

He doesn't answer immediately, so Jason puts his phone on his chest and puts the Discovery Channel on. They're doing a rerun of _Planet Earth_ , so Jason zones out a little and lets his mind wander. He's jolted out of his head when his phone buzzes halfway through the episode.

_I need_

Jason blinks at the screen. It's not immediately followed by another text, and Jason waits a minute before texting back. _everything okay?_

_Not really_

_Can I_

Jason dials quickly, and Tim picks up the phone before the first ring goes all the way through. "Jay?"

"Hey," Jason says, stomach twisting. They haven't talked on the phone much, but Tim has always been careful to either call him Nate or to avoid using his name at all, which Jason has appreciated. Tim forgetting that detail isn't a good sign for his mental state right now. "Talk to me, Tim. What's going on?"

"My dad," he chokes out. "My dad is dead."

-0-

The days blur together in a haze of Damian and work and Tim. Jason can't risk going to the funeral, and he spends a while hating that fact and trying to hide it from Tim, who is understandably a mess. He bounces back and forth between wanting to talk all the time and barely texting Jason back. Jason is fine with being Tim's support system; he just wishes he could do it from a little bit closer.

Debbie stops by in the middle of October, bustling around in the kitchen while Jason sits at the table and stares at his hands. After a few minutes, Debbie sits beside him and offers a cup of coffee. "Whatever it is, Nate, I'm ready to listen when you're ready to talk."

Jason offers her a smile. "Right now, it's not my thing to talk about. I'm… I have a friend from home who's going through a rough time, and I'm trying to be there for him from a distance."

"Got it," Debbie says. "If you need me to watch Damian for a day or two while you go home, you let me know, okay? I'd be happy to help you out."

"I'll think about it," Jason says. There's no way he can go to Gotham right now, not with what Tim has told him and what he's gleaned from the news. Tim's staying with Bruce for the time being, and between the rumors circulating about B adopting him and the sightings of Dick that have the media swooning, Jason knows there's no way he'd be able to keep himself off of the Bat-radar. It's nice to fantasize about it, though.

"On a lighter note," Debbie says, "are you taking Damian out for Halloween this year?"

"I haven't given it a lot of thought," Jason replies, startled. "Is it that time already?"

Debbie smiles. "It's October twentieth, Nate."

"Shit," Jason says, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before blinking them back open. "I should take him out. He'd love it, and it's not like last year, when he was really too little to do it."

"If you want, I can take him," Debbie offers. "Ryan and I are taking our three around, and Riley would be thrilled to have Damian along."

"Maybe he and I will tag along with you," Jason says after a minute. "Three adults, four kids, tons of candy. That sounds like a good ratio."

"I carry Oreos for the adults," Debbie confides. "Power food. It's important."

"The kids are carrying around giant sacks of candy, and you bring more sweets?"

Debbie raises an eyebrow. "I can't wait to see you try to actually take candy from a baby. It's not nearly as easy as the old saying makes it sound."

"Fair enough," Jason says, finally cracking a smile. "I guess that means Damian and I have some costume shopping to do."

"Buy it a size bigger than fits him," Debbie advises. "That way you can layer underneath it. Those things are made out of the lightest fabric, I swear."

Jason nods. "I'll keep that in mind."

They talk for a while longer, and by the time Debbie leaves, Jason is surprised to find that he does feel a bit less stressed. There's more on his plate, sure, but spending a little while thinking about something other than his worries about Tim has left him feeling better. He winces as the thought passes through his mind, because it sounds terrible, but then he thinks about how much more he'll be able to do if he takes a break every once in a while.

It still doesn't sound great, so Jason pushes it aside as he picks up his phone to text Tim. Maybe thinking about a costume for Damian will help take Tim's mind off of things for a little while, too.

-0-

"Hungry," Damian announces one night about two weeks after Halloween, walking into the living room and dragging Panda after him. He shoves Panda into Jason's legs and flops down. "Daddy. Hungry."

"I hear you," Jason says, reaching down to ruffle Damian's hair. "I think we need to go to the store, little man. We had pasta last night, and I don't think we should really get into the habit of having it every night."

Damian perks up. "Donald's?"

"I said _store_ , not _McDonald’s_ ," Jason says, amused. "But hey, maybe we can get a bag of chicken nuggets to keep in the freezer. You should finish those in a week."

"Nuggets," Damian says, apparently satisfied. "Saurus?"

"Yeah, we can see if they've got the dinosaur ones," Jason agrees, standing and stretching. "C'mon, let's get our coats and stuff on so we can brave a trip to the supermarket."

Evidently the promise of dinosaur chicken nuggets is enough to make Damian excited about shopping, because he doesn't protest when Jason drags out his winter coat and his boots. He tries to put his own mittens on, which leads to a minor catastrophe when he gets one on and then drops the other, but before too long they're packed into the car, both singing along to the radio as they drive to the store. Well, Jason is singing; Damian is mostly just yelling and giggling. It might be the best rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" that Jason has ever heard.

"Okay, buddy," Jason says as they walk into the store. "What should we get?"

Damian scrunches up his face. He'd seen one of the older kids at the after-school program do it a few weeks ago while thinking, and apparently mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, because he does it all the time. Jason bites his lip to hide his grin and waits.

"Saurus," Damian finally says. "Os. Soup."

"You don't even like soup," Jason says, amused. "Remember? You purposely spilled two bowls of it on the ground last time I heated some up."

"Soup," Damian insists. "Os."

Jason sighs. "I am going to glare so hard at Debbie for introducing you to Oreos, I swear to God."

"Os!" Damian cries as they start their shopping, as if he knows he's won. To be fair, that's an argument he has yet to lose, so it's a good assumption.

The store has both Oreos and dinosaur chicken nuggets, so Damian is thrilled beyond measure. Jason pushes the cart through the aisles and plays defense against his son as much as he shops, and an hour later, they're back at the front of the store. There are only two checkout lanes open, and Jason definitely has more than twelve items in the cart – Damian had won on the soup, even though Jason is at least 90% sure he won't eat it – so he starts unloading his cart in the lane that Faye had claimed as her own years before Jason moved into town.

"Oh," the cashier says, and it's not Faye. It's definitely not Faye, because when Jason looks up, Tim is staring back at him.

"Jesus Christ," Jason says, blinking a few times. "What are you… Tim?"

"Um, hi," TIm says, looking down at Jason's groceries. He starts scanning and bagging them as Jason stares. "I meant to - I was going to tell you. I couldn't stay there, not…"

"No, hey, of course not," Jason says, reaching out and managing to stop himself before he grabs Tim's arm. "Where are you staying?"

"Fifth and Main."

Jason consults his mental map and frowns. "The youth hostel?"

"It's cheap," Tim says, finally looking back at Jason. "I'm… it seemed like a good idea when I got here."

"Okay," Jason says, doing his best to stay calm and not drag Tim over the counter for a hug, no matter how badly he clearly needs one. "When's your shift over?"

Tim shifts on his feet. "I'm pulling a double to cover for Faye."

"So you're here until, what, eleven?"

"Eleven thirty," Tim corrects.

Jason frowns again. "The hostel reception will be closed by then."

"They know I'm coming in late," Tim replies. "I told them before I left this morning, and they kept my name, so they'll let me in after hours."

"That doesn't mean they'll hold a spot for you," Jason points out. "I've got a spare room. Well, I've got a sofa for tonight, and I can get Damian's toy collection out of the spare room tomorrow."

Apparently it's Tim's turn to frown. "I don't want to impose."

"Bullshit. You can't impose if you're invited," Jason says, lifting Damian out of the baby seat and walking the cart down the rest of the lane.

"It's not bullshit!" Tim says indignantly.

"Bullshit," Damian repeats helpfully. Jason is willing to let that one slide since it illustrates his point so nicely.

Tim visibly hesitates, so Jason goes on. "Listen to the kid, Tim. I'll swing by at the end of your shift and pick you up, you can crash at my place, and we can talk in person for once." Jason tries a reassuring smile. He's gotten a lot better at those.

Tim frowns. "Damian will be asleep by then. You can't wake him up just to-"

"He always wakes up at ten, no matter what time I put him down," Jason says.

"Is that healthy?" Tim asks, looking away as he bags the last of the groceries.

"Doctor said it's another growth spurt," Jason replies. "Go figure: you keep feeding them, they keep growing. He wakes up starving all the damn time. If we swing through McDonald's on the way home, he'll be ecstatic."

Damian hears the magic word and leans forward to grab a fistful of Tim's shirt. "Donald's?"

"Say yes or you'll break my kid's heart," Jason says. A little manipulation via adorable child never hurt anyone.

"Yes," Tim says automatically. Damian lets him go and beams at him. "But I still don't know-"

"I _do_ know," Jason says, trying for firm but not bossy. "You're… if you're in town, I'd like to at least talk to you a little. I mean, email is great, phones are awesome, but…"

Tim gives him a shaky smile. "Yeah, that. Things have been pretty terrible lately."

"I'm sorry," Jason says quietly. Things have been really up and down for Tim since his dad died, and Jason knows exactly how much of an emotional support Bruce isn't. "Look, I've gotta go get some food in the monster, but we'll be back for you at half-past eleven, okay?"

Tim nods and Jason smiles, putting Damian back in the baby seat and loading his bags into the cart. "Damian, say bye to Tim, okay? We're going to come back for him later, and then we'll get McDonald's."

Damian nods excitedly, waving both hands in Tim's general direction. "Bye, Mimmy!"

Tim actually cracks a grin. "Bye, Damian. I'll see you later."

"And Donald's," Damian adds, still waving as Jason pushes the cart away.

Damian seems a little upset that Jason won't make him dino nuggets for dinner, but Jason knows what his son will get at McDonald's later, and two meals of chicken nuggets in a row isn't exactly going to be good for him. They have a lighter meal instead, and Jason sends Damian to his room to pick out some pajamas. He comes running into the bathroom with them a few minutes later, and Jason gets him bathed and in bed in almost record time.

"Sleep well, Damian," he says, leaning over Damian's bed to kiss his forehead. "The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner we can get McDonald's, okay?"

"Donald's," Damian agrees sleepily, kissing Jason's cheek and grimacing. "Hairs, Daddy."

"Yeah, and Daddy's going to shave while you're sleeping, too," Jason mutters. His five o'clock shadow tends to appear around two, and by the time eleven thirty rolls around, Jason will be pretty damn whiskery. If he's having company, well... he's not going to subject Tim to his werewolf face.

"Nigh'," Damian says, already mostly asleep. Jason stands and walks quietly out of the room, shutting the door and heading for the living room. He'll shave later; right now, he's got a little straightening up to do.

Jason manages almost two hours of cleaning around the house before Damian wakes up a little after ten. He drags Panda down the stairs with him and makes himself a Panda-pile in the corner, curling up and watching Jason clean as he wakes all the way up.

"Daddy," Damian says about fifteen minutes after he comes downstairs, "Donald's and Mimmy?"

"Yeah, buddy," Jason says, glancing at the clock. It's not quite half past ten, and the grocery store is only a fifteen-minute drive. "In a little while, okay? You can have an Oreo to hold you over if you're starving."

"Yes!" Damian cries, suddenly completely alert. He stands and walks a few steps towards the kitchen, stopping to turn around and frown at Panda. "Daddy Panda?"

"Sure thing, kiddo," Jason says, grabbing Panda from the floor and following Damian into the kitchen. Damian climbs up into his chair and waits as patiently as he can while Jason puts Panda in another chair and gets his Oreo and a little milk. Damian eats as messily as ever, and Jason is glad he didn't get too crazy with cleaning the floors, because there's bound to be Oreo crumbs pretty much everywhere around Damian's chair after this. Jason leans against the counter as Damian devours his snack, thinking about what, exactly, he's doing.

Tim needs a place to stay that isn't a youth hostel. Whether it was a conscious decision or not, when Tim had run from Gotham he'd ended up here; Jason can offer him a place to stay and some in-person support, which will probably be good for both of them. It's not like Tim had a ton of support back in Gotham. There's Dick, sure, but Bruce is Bruce, so he'd probably just done the manly shoulder-pat and sort of soulful look and let it go.

Jason knows that Tim was filing paperwork to become a legally emancipated minor, but hasn't heard the result of that; as far as Jason knows, the results aren't due in until… _Oh_ , Jason thinks, looking at the date on his phone. He'd found out a few days ago. It makes a little more sense, at least. Jason had been sure that the emancipation would go through: Tim's record is spotless, he's less than a year from turning eighteen anyway, and he'd inherited a bunch of money when his dad died, including early access to the trust fund set to mature next year. If Tim is legally emancipated, then he can be wherever he wants.

So that’s the how, but Jason is still a little hung up on the why. He blames the hostel on Tim not wanting to impose; Jason's pretty sure he's made his stance on that clear. But why didn't he at least call to say he'd be in town? Has Tim changed his mind about the whole maybe-probably dating thing? Did he really think he could hide from them in a town this small, or was he trying to-

Damian gulps down the last of his milk and slams his cup against the table, bringing Jason out of his thoughts. "We're not leaving yet," he says as Damian climbs down. "Do you want to watch cartoons or read a book until we go?"

"Book," Damian decides, holding his hands up for Jason to wipe. Jason grabs Panda as they head back to the living room, and they spend the next half hour reading about sharing and caring four times in a row. When Jason finally closes the book and puts it on the coffee table, Damian climbs out of his lap and heads for the hallway. Jason laughs and follows him, managing to avoid a repeat of the mitten crisis, and they're back in the car and in front of the supermarket by twenty past eleven.

"Mimmy?" Damian asks, frowning at the doors when Tim doesn't appear as soon as they pull up.

"He's still working," Jason says. "We're early."

"Mimmy come out," Damian demands.

Jason laughs, turning to face his son. "Do you actually want to see Tim, or do you just want your nuggets?"

Damian looks at him very seriously. "Donald's and Mimmy."

"You like Mimmy, huh," Jason observes. "You've known him for a total of, what, five hours, most of which you were way too young to remember, and he's your new favorite person?"

"Mimmy," Damian shouts, and Jason opens his mouth to reply, but there's a knock on the passenger-side window. Jason jerks back into his seat, staring at a grinning Tim, breath coming out in little clouds over the top of his scarf. Jason unlocks the doors and Tim climbs in, closing the door and pulling off his gloves. He immediately holds his hands up to the heating vents.

"You weren't even out of the store for two minutes," Jason says. "How can you be cold already?"

"I have poor circulation," Tim replies. "And I've been standing in there for sixteen hours, minus breaks. I'm beat."

Jason makes a face and turns the heat up. "Yeah, okay. You get out early?"

"I think Ron feels bad for me," Tim says. "New kid gets stuck with extra shifts right off the bat because his trainer suddenly got put on bed rest, et cetera. I told him I'd pick up as many hours as I could, but when I mentioned that my ride was in the lot, he told me to go."

"Ron's a good guy," Jason says, putting the car in gear. "How did you survive the suit in winter if you can't walk from one door to another without getting frostbite?"

Tim grins. "I made B heat my suit. Also, I demanded pants."

"Clearly you're the smart one," Jason says, laughing.

Damian laughs from the back seat too, and Tim turns around to smile at him. "Hi again, Damian."

"Hi, Mimmy," Damian says brightly. "Donald's!"

Tim turns back to face Jason. "Am I just a stepping stone in the quest for food?"

"Don't look at me, I'm just the driver," Jason replies. "Chances are good, though."

Tim laughs. "Did you have to wake him?"

"Nope. He and Panda came downstairs right after ten, just like I told you. He refused to get out of his PJs, though."

"Ducks," Damian points out, sticking his feet into the back of Jason's seat, presumably to show off his pajamas.

Tim smiles at him. "They're very nice ducks, Damian."

Damian breaks into a few loud quacks, and Tim jumps a little in his seat.

Jason snickers. "If he had his way, we'd have a zoo in our backyard."

"Still no pet?"

"Not for lack of him trying," Jason says, rolling his eyes. "He asked me for a giraffe last week."

Tim grins back at Damian. "Gotta start small, Damian. Work your way up to the big stuff."

"Please don't encourage him," Jason says as he pulls into the McDonald's and orders Damian's Kids Meal. He pulls the toy out and tosses it at Tim. "Get it out of the plastic and give it to him?" he asks. "It'll keep him busy until we get to a place that won't suffer too badly when he mashes nuggets into it."

Tim snorts and pulls the toy from the plastic, handing it back to Damian. "Hey, it's a duck, just like your pajamas!"

"Duck," Damian shrieks, clearly wound up by his impending food and his new toy. "Duck duck duck!"

"What's his name, Dami?" Jason asks.

"Duck," Damian says gleefully. When Jason glances in the kid view mirror, Damian has the duck cuddled under his chin. Jason grins. It's completely adorable.

Jason and Tim talk idly about nothing until they get back to the house. Jason grabs Damian and his new duck while Tim gets the food, and Jason tries really hard not to read too much into it as the three of them move around each other seamlessly. Tim goes into the kitchen while Jason gets Damian out of his winter coat, and when they walk into the kitchen, Tim has Damian's meal set out.

Damian lights up and starts squirming as soon as he sees his chicken nuggets, so Jason puts him in his seat and rolls his sleeves up before letting him lean in. "Go nuts, kid."

Damian grabs a nugget in each hand and starts chowing down, making happy little noises as he goes. Jason turns and opens the cabinet above the coffeemaker, pulling out grounds and a filter. He gives Tim a minute to settle in as he puts the coffee on.

"So, do you want to talk tonight or in the morning?" Jason asks. "I know you're used to being up all night, but pulling a double is hell. I won't blame you if you just want to crash."

Tim glances around. "How secure are we here?"

"I swept for bugs while I was cleaning up before," Jason says. "The only ones I've found are the ones that trace back to Talia. We're good."

"You're sure?"

"My birth name is Jason Peter Todd, I was Robin until the Joker-"

Tim holds up a hand. "Point proven."

He's quiet for a little while, but he eventually nods at something and takes a deep breath. "I'm not sure how much of this you already know, so I'm just going to start at the beginning. I badgered my way into the Robin suit after you died. I figured out who you were – who all of you were – because I spent a good chunk of my formative years stalking all of you with a camera." Tim grins. "You're the only one who ever almost caught me."

Jason sits heavily in the chair across from Tim. "B thought I was nuts when I told him someone was following us."

Tim nods. "I wish there was some way to show you the look on his face when that light bulb clicked on. It was a good one."

"I bet," Jason snickers. "Anyway. Continue."

"When I figured out what happened to you, I went to Dick, who threw me at Bruce and ran in the other direction," Tim says. "Long story short, in the course of me becoming Robin, my mother was killed and my dad was put into a coma."

"Jesus."

"Definitely not. I'm Jewish," Tim quips, shooting him a quick smile. "But… yeah, it was a rough time. My dad spent a while in a coma and longer in physical therapy. Bruce played the kindly neighbor who-"

"Wait, you lived next door to me for years and I still didn't catch on that it was you?" Jason cuts in.

Tim puts a hand to his chest and raises an eyebrow. "I am a professional."

"You're something else, that's for sure," Jason says, shaking his head.

"Anyway, I stayed with Bruce for a while and became Robin, and when my dad woke up, I split my time between him and Bruce." Tim takes a long, even breath. "It worked for a long time. Longer than I thought it would, really. When I showed up earlier this year, I'd just had a near-miss with Dad figuring it out. I thought for sure that it would happen any day now, that I was never more than a week from losing Robin in one way or another."

Jason gets two mugs out of the cabinet and sets them on the counter. "He never figured it out?" he asks finally.

"No," Tim says, looking down at the table. "He probably would have eventually, but-"

"Yeah," Jason says. He's got enough details on how Tim's dad died. That's definitely not something they need to rehash tonight. "So you got everything in order in Gotham and then came out here."

Tim looks at Damian, who has finished his nuggets and is now munching on apple slices."With everything that's happened lately… I'd been thinking about stopping anyway. This whole situation tipped the scale, but it wasn't a sudden decision." He smiles at Damian, who gives him an apple-filled smile back. Tim's face goes a little pink as he continues. "You've done more to keep me sane over the past few months than I can explain. I don't have a lot of friends, Jason. I guess I was just looking for a safe space."

Usually, Jason prides himself on being able to think on his feet. It had been an important skill nearly all his life, and he's honed it since he realized how powerful a tool it could be. Now, though, he's got pretty much nothing.

Tim apparently takes pity on him. "You mentioned coffee?"

"Right," Jason says, standing and walking to the coffeemaker. He pours two mugs out and brings them to the table. "Milk and sugar?"

"Don't you dare," Tim replies, curling his fingers defensively around his mug. He glares a little when Jason raises an eyebrow. "I like my coffee straight. It's not a dessert food."

"Hey, to each their own," Jason says, reaching for the sugar bowl in the center of the table. "Don't freak out when I sweeten mine, though."

Tim makes a face as Jason stirs two spoonfuls of sugar into his mug, and Jason grins at him. He raises his mug slightly towards Tim. "To Gotham, city of assholes."

Tim squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before blinking them open and raising his own mug. "To better futures."

"I'll drink to that," Jason says, lifting his mug to his lips and taking a sip. Tim does the same, and they sit in silence for a little while.

Damian breaks the quiet by yawning hugely and leaning his head on the table, right in the middle of his half-eaten apple graveyard. Jason makes a face and stands. "Kids are gross. I wouldn't trade him for anything, but kids are disgusting."

He manages to get Damian out of the chair and cleaned up without waking him out of his half-asleep state, which is some sort of minor miracle. Damian fusses a little when Jason carries him up to his room and sets him in his bed, but Jason rubs his back for a minute, and he conks out for good shortly thereafter.

Tim is waiting in the hallway when Jason closes the door. "Growth spurt," he says again, shrugging. "He eats, he sleeps, he eats, he raises hell, he eats some more..."

"How long is that supposed to last?" Tim asks.

Jason snorts. "Until he's twenty, or so I'm told." Tim laughs a little, and Jason goes on. "The couch folds out, by the way. The number one thing you need if you have a kid is a fold-out couch, so there's somewhere to crash and watch cartoons when they get sick."

"I'll keep that in mind for theoretical future children," Tim says. "And you don't have to-"

"Shhh," Jason interrupts. "No fighting with me after Damian goes to sleep. He'll wake up and fuss, and it's your turn to put him to bed if you wake him up."

"No thanks," Tim says, raising his hands. "I graciously accept your offer of the couch bed for the night."

"We can negotiate over future nights in the morning," Jason replies, stopping at the shelves in the laundry room to grab a spare set of sheets. He nods at the shelving unit. "Get a pillow for yourself, and a couple of blankets."

Tim grabs the bedding and follows Jason down the stairs into the living room. They make the bed up in silence, and when they're done, Jason sticks his hands in his pockets. "There's a bathroom through the back of the kitchen. Help yourself to whatever you need. As you know, we just went shopping, so we're about as stocked up as we get around here."

Tim looks sheepish for a moment. "Um. Awkward question warning." Jason raises an eyebrow, and Tim continues, blushing slightly. "My bag is in a storage locker next door to the hostel. Could I borrow something to sleep in?"

"Sure," Jason says, blinking before turning and heading back up to his room. He grabs the first clean sleeping clothes he finds, an old shirt and a pair of soft plaid lounge shorts, before bringing them down to Tim. "If you need anything and can't find it, I'm the door upstairs that doesn't lead to Damian's room. You should be able to figure it out. I'm a light sleeper, so chances are good that I'll hear it if you start coming up the stairs."

Tim nods. "What time should I expect you and Damian to get up?"

"Early," Jason says with a wince. "He'll wake up in probably six hours or so and climb out of his crib so he can crawl in with me, and we'll come down and make breakfast maybe an hour after that. I don't work tomorrow, so we'll probably sleep in until about eight."

"Sounds good," Tim says. "I work at eleven, but I'm only doing one shift tomorrow, so I'm not going to fall asleep on my feet if he wants to get up and eat before that."

"We'll figure it out," Jason says, taking a few steps towards the stairs. "All of it, I mean. Not just the breakfast part."

"I figured, "Tim says, turning down the sheets with an amused smile. "Goodnight, Jason, and thanks again."

"G'night," Jason says, walking up the stairs and into his room without turning around to watch Tim crawl into bed.

-0-

Jason wakes with a start at about three in the morning. He's not sure what woke him at first, since he can't hear Damian fussing, but then he hears something moving downstairs. He's out of bed in a flash, and it isn't until he's crept halfway down the stairs with a knife in his hand that he remembers that Tim is in the living room. If he isn't the source of the noise, then he has probably neutralized the threat already.

"Tim?" Jason calls softly as he gets to the bottom of the stairs. The sheets are tossed across the bed and there's a light on in the kitchen, so Jason walks towards the back of the house. He turns the corner into the back hallway and stops dead in his tracks.

Tim is standing in the hallway with the door to the spare bedroom open, blushing like crazy. Damian has been using the room as a storage space for stuffed animals that he doesn't want to bring back upstairs for some reason, and it looks like Tim has been hit by an avalanche of them. As Jason watches, Tim moves to step back and hits one of the ones with a squeaker in it, and he jumps when it lets out its high-pitched shriek.

Jason grins. "You know, you're the least stealthy Robin I've ever met, and I've spent a lot of time with Dick."

Tim crosses his arms over his chest. "I didn't know which door led to the bathroom."

"You were close," Jason says, pointing to the other door. "Sorry. Sometimes Damian is a hoarder."

"Well, if you won't get a dog…" Tim replies, grinning when Jason snorts. "Why are they in the spare room?"

"I have no idea," Jason confesses. "Some of them live in his room, and some of them live in here. If I try to move them, he just brings them back down. I've stopped trying."

Tim raises an eyebrow. "There are more of them?"

"Tons," Jason says. "It's like they multiply. Sometimes I look in here and the only way I know he's not hiding elsewhere is because the pile of stuffed things is moving around."

"How do you get him out?"

Jason has to laugh. "Snack time is after play time. He wanders out demanding Oreos when he's ready."

Tim laughs too, then shakes his head. "Well, after that epic battle I'm wide awake," he says dryly. "Any recommendations for late-night television?"

Jason squints at the clock on the microwave. "There's nothing good on now, but I have the shitty Justice League ripoff cartoon they made in the 70s on DVD."

Tim blinks. "Super Friends?"

"It's very cathartic," Jason says solemnly. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

"I'm game," Tim says, which is how Jason ends up folding the bed back into a sofa while Tim uses the bathroom.

Jason is already sitting on the sofa, remote in hand, when Tim comes back into the room. Jason pats the cushion beside him and is a little surprised when Tim sits right next to him, only hesitating for a moment before leaning into Jason's side.

"So," Jason says as he puts an arm around Tim's shoulder, "now that I have you trapped: what's up with coming back here and not calling?"

Tim ducks his head. "I needed to leave it all behind, and a good reason to stay gone. Knowing that if I went back they'd ask questions, and I'd end up compromising your identity… it's enough to keep me out of the life."

"That's… okay, well, thank you, but that still doesn't answer why you didn't call," Jason says after a moment. "You can not-compromise me from here just as easily as from the hostel, and if you're here, you don't have to worry about where to put your clothes during the day."

"We've talked a lot," Tim says with a shake of his head, "but I just… I couldn't assume. And until I was sure Bruce didn't follow me, 'for the sake of safety', I didn't want to risk getting in contact."

Jason takes a deep breath. "We were going to talk when you visited. I don't know what you thought that talk was going to be about, but I was going to ask if you were interested in going out with me." He can feel himself blushing like crazy, but he doesn't look away from Tim. "I'm not going to push for anything, not now and not ever, because I know that things change, but-"

"I would've. Would have been interested." Tim isn't meeting his eyes, and it's easy to see that he's blushing just as much as Jason is.

"You would have?"

"I still would be," Tim says, keeping his eyes firmly locked on the floor while he grasps his knees. "I know I'm kind of a mess, so I get if you don't want to-"

Jason reaches down and grabs one of Tim's hands. "I still would be, too. As long as it's something you actually want, and not something you think you should do because you're staying in my house."

Tim makes a face, but it makes him look up, so Jason will take it. "I'm not quite that messed up."

"Good to know," Jason says, squeezing Tim's hand. "So, to recap, we're both interested. Are we doing this?"

"Romance is dead," Tim says, rolling his eyes and smiling a little. "I'm in if you are."

"And now I feel like we're making a shady business deal," Jason says. "Do we shake on it now?"

Tim wiggles the hand that Jason is holding. "Consider this my declaration of romantic intent. What's your counter-proposal, Mr. Todd?"

"No, stop," Jason groans, tugging on Tim's hand until he falls into Jason's side. Jason lets himself slide along the back of the sofa until he's laying down, and he pulls Tim with him. "My counter-proposal is snuggling on the sofa and never talking about this like a contract negotiation ever again."

"I can agree to those terms," Tim says, resting his head on Jason's chest. "I didn't really think you'd be a hugger."

Jason shrugs, moving Tim a little. "I'm no Grayson, but I have a kid. You learn when hugs are needed and apply liberally. Damian went through a phase where he wouldn't sleep unless he was snuggled up on my chest, skin to skin." Jason waggles his eyebrows. "I'm good at sleep snuggles, if you need 'em."

"I'm not good at them," Tim says after a small pause. "I tend to - there are a lot of nightmares. I tend to get a little violent."

"Understandable," Jason says. He's not without his own bad dreams, that's for sure, but he's learned how to have them quietly so as to avoid waking Damian up. He doesn't have them as often as he used to, either. "You'll be surprised at how much living in suburbia helps in calming those down."

"I hope," Tim mutters.

"You'll see," Jason promises. "So, to smoothly change the topic, what are your plans? The grocery store is great and all, but I don't see you there long-term."

"No," Tim agrees. He hesitates a little before going on. "I have - my mother came from a wealthy family. Part of the legal paperwork that I did during the emancipation process gave me access to the trust fund she'd set up for me." Jason nods; he'd known that was part of what Tim had been doing. "Quite honestly, it's enough that if I managed it carefully, I wouldn't have to work."

Jason whistles. "More than a few bucks, then."

"I'm considering getting my GED in the next few months to avoid having to re-enroll in high school. I want to go to college at some point. I like working with computers, and I'm pretty good at it." Tim shrugs. "I'd like to end up somewhere low-profile. If I can get a degree to back up what I already know, maybe tack a few new programming languages on while I'm at it, I'd probably be able to open up my own repair and design place. Something local, something small."

"Nice," Jason says as he nods. "Not that I'm surprised you've thought it out to that degree, but… wow."

"There are a lot of slow nights on patrol," Tim says dryly. "I'm not like - I never planned on doing it forever. I always had a plan for what I'd do after."

Jason squeezes him slightly. "Yeah, so you said." He shifts a little. "I'll clean out the spare room tomorrow while you're at work. We might need to pick some things up to make it liveable for an extended period of time, but we'll figure it out."

"You're really sure about all of this," Tim says quietly. "Me staying here. Me in general, I guess."

"I'm sure that we'll figure it out," Jason replies. "I think… I think we can make things work, you and me and Damian."

They talk for a while. Tim has a lot of stories about his team, and Jason trades him stories about growing up with Dick and Bruce. It's nice, talking about it in a way that's more nostalgic than anything else. Tim asks more about Jason's life since moving, and they talk about that as well. They jump from topic to topic, Tim relaxing more and more as Jason runs his hand up and down Tim's back.

"Is Damian going to be upset about me moving in?" Tim asks after a while.

"Nah, he likes you," Jason says. "He's a picky kid sometimes, but you passed the test. Congrats."

Tim's eyebrow flies up. "Jason, I watched him eat apples dipped in ketchup a few hours ago. That's not picky."

"He's different with people," Jason replies, waving a hand. "He takes a while to warm up to people, but you promised him McDonald's and therefore won his heart."

"Oh," Tim says, glancing away again. "I… ah. He's a good kid."

"Of course he is," Jason says. "He's a great kid, and he likes you, and I'm glad you're moving in."

"Uh," Tim says, blinking. "Those are related?"

"Completely," Jason assures him. "It'll make more sense after sleep and breakfast. Which," he says, glancing at the clock again, "will be in a few hours, so we should both probably try for some more sleep."

Tim groans. "Right. Tiny human alarm clock."

"You missed the time when he was too young to walk in, so he did the job by screaming at the top of his lungs," Jason says, raising an eyebrow as Tim shifts and sits up. "Count your blessings."

"Will do," Tim says, standing and pulling Jason to his feet. He pushes Jason towards the stairs and starts to pull the sofa bed back out. "See you in a few hours."


	2. Chapter 2

Debbie doesn't comment on one of Bruce Wayne's kids suddenly moving into Jason's house, even though Jason is sure that she recognizes him; it hasn't been _that_ long since Tim was in town to approve the grant. She shows up a few days before Thanksgiving to remind Jason that he's invited to drop by for holiday food and company. "And bring your young man," she adds. "How's he doing, anyway?"

"My - Tim?" Jason can't keep the smile from spreading across his face. "He's settling in pretty well, and Damian loves him, so that's good."

Debbie smiles widely. "It's always good when the kids like your partner. Makes things a lot easier."

"It hasn't hurt so far," Jason agrees.

"You boys just let me know if you need anything, got it?" Debbie pats Jason on the arm and winks. "I'm sure Riley would love to have Damian for a sleepover if you two want a date night."

"I…" Jason stammers. "Ah. Thanks, Debbie. I'll let you know?"

Jason isn't quite sure how that leads to him and Tim home alone a week later, but he's not exactly complaining. He puts in a movie before flopping across the sofa, and Tim joins him after a few minutes. He curls up at the end of the sofa, not touching Jason, and Jason narrows his eyes at the television for a moment before deciding he's being ridiculous. They're dating; he can ask for physical proximity. If Tim says no, then Tim says no, but-

He stops his train of thought and sits up. "So, no way to ask this without sounding kind of dumb: can we maybe occupy the same couch cushion?"

Tim blinks at him. "Huh?"

Jason throws an arm out. "Can we cuddle while we watch? 'No' is an acceptable answer, I just kind of wanted to."

"Oh," Tim says. Jason sees the smile spread slowly across his face. "That - yeah, sure." He moves over until he's leaning into Jason's side, and after a few minutes of wriggling around, Tim sighs. "This is nice."

"Yeah," Jason agrees. "How are things going at the store?"

"Fine," Tim says. "Ron is thinking about hiring someone else for part-time, so he'd be able to cut my hours back to a normal full-time schedule."

"Faye isn't coming back?"

"Not until after the baby is born," Tim says, twisting so he can pull the blanket from the back of the sofa and toss it over their legs. "Apparently the doctor saw something on the latest ultrasound that had her worried, so she's on bed rest until further notice."

Jason frowns. "Poor Faye. She told me that she wanted a boy, but I don't think she was expecting all this trouble to have one."

"She should be fine," Tim replies. "I looked into her doctor. She's got a lot of positive feedback, and the hospital that she works out of is very highly accredited."

Jason looks down at Tim and snorts. "You are… wow."

"What?" Tim says, turning so he can look up at Jason. "I wanted to make sure she was getting the best care possible. If there was someone better around, I would have done my best to find a way to get her seen there, but the person she's going to is one of the best in the region."

"You're fantastic," Jason says, watching as Tim's cheeks go pink. "How long have you known Faye? A month?"

"Not quite that long," Tim says, ducking his head. "Why does that have anything to do with-"

Jason leans in and kisses him. He means for it to be a quick peck, more affectionate than anything else, but Tim immediately presses against him, turning so he can kiss back. Jason slides a hand down to rest on Tim's hip and starts playing with his hair with the other, and they spend a while making out on the sofa.

Tim eventually pulls back. "The movie's over."

"Huh?" Jason blinks, and Tim nods at the television, where the menu loop is playing on repeat. "Oh. I… didn't watch any of that."

"Neither did I," Tim says, leaning back in to nip at Jason's lips. "I think I'm okay with missing it, though."

"Yeah," Jason agrees, reaching out with one hand for the remote so he can shut the television off without making Tim move. The living room goes mostly dark, and Tim sighs against Jason's mouth.

"I'd like to go upstairs with you," Tim says, pulling back a little. Jason can barely see his face in the little bit of light shining down from the upstairs hallway, but he can tell that Tim is smiling a little. "If it's too soon for you, I-"

"Come upstairs with me," Jason interrupts. "Let me - I want to-"

"Yeah," Tim says, pecking Jason on the lips before standing and holding a hand out to help Jason up. "Let's go do that."

-0-

Jason had cleaned out the spare room for Tim as promised, but he's really only in it for two weeks before they start sleeping together. Tim's clothes begin migrating upstairs as well, so when Jason notices that Damian has started sneaking stuffed animals back into what was supposed to be Tim's room, he doesn't say anything. It's a battle he hadn't really known how he was going to fight anyway, so avoiding it is probably the better part of valor - no one wins when you challenge a toddler.

"I think it's his zoo," Tim says one evening. He and Jason are sitting on the sofa, watching as Damian makes trip after trip from his room to the back of the house. Each time he comes down the stairs, he has a different stuffed animal in his arms, and when he heads back up the stairs, his arms are empty. Jason walks back to the once-again-a-spare room, and a quick glance inside reveals that the room now has more stuffed animals in it than it had when Jason had moved them all upstairs.

"Okay, I think there needs to be a rule: no more stuffed animals for Damian," Jason calls back to the living room, staring at the pile. "This is ridiculous."

Damian bumps into Jason's legs, and when Jason looks down, Damian is staring back up at him. It's pretty evident that he can barely see over the top of the huge stuffed ladybug in his arms. "Move," Damian says clearly, bumping into Jason's legs again.

"Whoa, rude," Jason says, startled. He plucks the ladybug out of Damian's hands and inspects it. "Two things: one, Damian, you need to say 'please' to people, and two, where the hell did this come from?"

Jason can hear Tim stand, and a moment later, he's standing in the hallway. "Oh, that. I took him to the store the other day, remember? We needed paper towels."

"This is not a paper towel," Jason says, waving the ladybug at Tim. "This is not paper, nor is it a towel."

"La'ybug," Damian screeches, reaching his arms up. He's just tall enough to grab the dangling foot of the ladybug, and latch on he does.

Tim raises an eyebrow. "He grabbed it when we walked in, and I told him if he could tell me what it was called, we could get it. One of the employees told me how cute Damian and his ladybug looked, and he caught the word."

"Hence ladybug," Jason says, looking down at it. Damian tugs on the foot he's holding, and Jason waits for him to release the tension before letting go. It bonks Damian in the head, and he looks surprised for a moment before dragging it into the room. He surveys the floor before apparently deciding that it needs to live half-squashed beneath the bed. Damian pats it one final time before turning back to Jason and Tim, who has walked over to lean against Jason's side.

"La'ybug," Damian repeats, pointing at it.

"Yes, it's still a ladybug," Tim says, clearly amused. "You don't have to keep identifying it. I'm not going to take it away."

"No," Damian shouts, throwing himself down on the part of the ladybug that's still sticking out. He screeches into the ladybug's furry side.

"Hey, kiddo, chill out," Jason says, wrapping an arm around Tim's waist. "Tim said he's _not_ taking it away. You get to keep it, okay?"

The distressed sounds from the general vicinity of the ladybug stop immediately. A moment later, Damian lifts his head up. "Mine?"

"Yeah, yours," Jason says. He holds his free hand out, and Damian climbs up and walks over to hug Jason's leg. "You want to bring it upstairs so you can sleep with it tonight?"

Damian nods, and Jason picks it up while Tim bends to get Damian. They walk upstairs together, working in tandem to get Damian in bed and asleep. It goes pretty smoothly, all told, and before long they're back on the sofa, leaning against each other as the television plays on mute.

"So," Tim says. "Do you guys do Christmas?"

"Sort of," Jason replies, shrugging. "I mean, I got him a few things last year, but he was too little for it to really matter. I'm not in it for the religious stuff, though." He shifts. "Do you celebrate Hanukkah?"

Tim is silent for a moment. "I… not really. I always feel like I should, but I also kind of feel like I only want to because it reminds me of my mom."

"Hey," Jason says, shifting so he can pull Tim back against his chest. "You're allowed to celebrate it in your mom's memory if that's what you want to do. We can get a little tree and a little menorah and have our own multi-holiday celebration."

"That would be nice," Tim says, leaning his head against Jason's shoulder. "They sell ones with LED light bulbs instead of actual candles. We can…"

"Damian will love it," Jason says after a moment. "A week-long holiday that involves presents, shiny things on trees, and glowing lights everywhere? It'll be like his dream come true."

"We should get some animal ornaments," Tim suggests. "He can have a zoo tree."

"Best holiday ever," Jason announces, grinning into Tim's hair. "He'll want to do it every day."

Tim laughs. "He'll have eight days. Think that'll be enough?"

"As long as he doesn't get used to it," Jason muses. "That could make the end of December a living hell."

"I think we can manage,' Tim says.

Jason smiles. "I think you're probably right."

-0-

"Hey," Jason calls as he comes in and pulls off his outer clothing. January has brought more snow than Jason has seen in years, even counting the time he spent training in the Alps during the winter. "Tim? Damian?"

There's no answer, so Jason kicks his boots off and walks barefoot into the house. The lights are off upstairs, and Jason frowns as he glances around. All of the winter gear is accounted for, so where could Tim and Damian-

Jason hears something from the spare room, so he heads back and pokes his head in. He feels himself smile widely at the scene: Damian and Tim are laying in a huge pile of Damian's stuffed animals, which has grown since the holidays, and they're both fast asleep. Tim is on his back, feet dangling off the end of the pile, while Damian is sprawled on Tim's stomach, head on Tim's chest and clutching one of the Beanie Babies that Debbie had given him to his face.

"Jesus, that's adorable," Jason says, reaching for his phone. He's able to snap two photos before Tim blinks awake. "Good morning. How was your nap?"

"Uh," Tim says, turning his head so he can look out the window. "What time is it?"

"Half past five," Jason replies. "I just got home from work."

"I was going to make dinner," Tim says, frowning. "Sorry."

Jason shakes his head. "Never say no to the nap, Tim. Not ever."

Tim sighs, and Damian stirs. "He's never going to sleep tonight. I'm sorry."

"It happens," Jason says, walking in to scoop Damian off of Tim's chest before offering his partner a hand up. "What got you two so tired?"

"We played in the snow," Tim says, smile lighting his face. "I took some photos for you. He made me put all of his panda gear on."

"All of it?" Jason snickers. Tim had taken a lot of pleasure in getting Damian as much panda-themed clothing as he could find for the holidays. He'd ended up with a shirt and pants set, a sweatshirt, a scarf, a hat with ears, and a snowsuit, all either printed with pandas or made to look like a panda. "How could he even walk with all of that on?"

"Poorly,” Tim replies, still grinning. "I had to help him."

"Did you make a snowman?"

Tim points out the window into the back yard, but it's already too dark to see. "We started one, but he got bored halfway through, so we abandoned it. He really liked making snow angels, though."

"Aw, I missed snow angels," Jason sighs. "I like those."

"There's plenty of fresh snow left out there," Tim says. "You can make a few more with him. I'm sure he'll love it."

Jason looks down at Damian, who is still fast asleep. "I'm not sure he'll be up for going out again. I haven't seen him this tired in a while."

Tim frowns. "He got tired pretty quickly when we were out there, too. I brought him back in and changed him out of his wet stuff, and then we came in here to play, but he just wanted to cuddle up."

"Huh," Jason says, testing the inside of his wrist against Damian's forehead. "He's a little warm. Maybe he's coming down with something."

"Oh," Tim says, and when Jason looks up, Tim has a miserable expression on his face. "I didn't - is he okay?"

"He'll be fine," Jason says, frowning. "Why do you look so upset?"

Tim waves vaguely at the back yard. "I shouldn't have taken him out if he's sick."

"You didn't know," Jason says, shrugging. "I didn't know. He didn't know, and from what you said, he had a good time until he got too cranky to play."

"He didn't get sick until I brought him out there, though," Tim says. "What if I-"

"Nope," Jason says, shifting Damian in his arms. He nods his head at the door, and he and Tim walk into the hallway and towards the stairs. "You didn't make him sick, Tim. You didn't make it worse. You had a fun afternoon with our kid, and then he got sick. The two are not related incidents."

Tim trips on the landing, catching himself on the wall. Jason turns back and raises an eyebrow at the blush on Tim's face.

"Our…" Tim says, looking at Damian, who's starting to squirm in Jason's arms.

Jason closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I… sorry. That's a little much, right? Way too soon for-"

"No," Tim says, smile suddenly breaking across his face. "I, um. No, I like thinking of it that way." His face is really red now.

"Well, good," Jason says, smiling back. He shifts a little awkwardly on his feet. "I do, too."

"Good," Tim says, reaching out to touch Damian's foot before leaning in to press a kiss to Jason's cheek. "Let's get him in bed so we can do grown-up things."

Jason waggles his eyebrows and Tim laughs. Damian grumbles when they change him and put him in his crib, but he doesn't really wake up at any point. Once they close the door, Jason grins at Tim. "So. Grown-up things?"

"Yeah, we have to decide who's staying home with him if he isn't feeling better in the morning," Tim says, walking back towards the stairs. "And I need to eat before I head in to work." He stops at the end of the hallway, turning around to look back at Jason. "Are you coming?"

Jason pouts as much as he can without breaking into laughter. "Those are not the kinds of grown-up things I was imagining, Tim. I feel lied to."

"I have work in an hour," Tim says, amused. "Those grown-up things would have to be really, really fast right now, because I actually do need to eat something before I go, and I want to leave a little early because I hate driving in the snow."

"We live in New Jersey," Jason says, following Tim down the stairs. "Are you going to be one of those people who goes to Florida for the winter when they get old? I don't think I make enough to buy us a house in Florida, Tim."

Tim pats Jason's arm. "I'm independently wealthy, remember?"

"That's not a good answer," Jason says, eyebrow rising. "Are you a snow goose, Tim?"

"A what?" Tim stops and turns so he can stare at Jason.

"A snow goose," Jason repeats. "When it starts getting cold, they fly to Florida, and when it warms up, they fly back here and tell all the poor birds who couldn't leave about how nice it is to be away from the snow for the winter. Also, they completely lose their ability to drive when it's below, like, fifty degrees."

"Your metaphor broke down a little towards the end," Tim says, shaking his head as he continues towards the kitchen. "I think I've spent enough of my life being called a bird. I'll pass on 'snow goose.'"

"Oh, good," Jason says, opening the refrigerator. "We've got leftover pasta from two nights ago and a couple of slices of pizza from the weekend. Pick your poison."

"Pasta," Tim says, grabbing the container and taking it to the microwave. "There should be some green beans in there, too. I'll finish them off."

Jason pulls out the green beans and the pizza, giving Tim the vegetables before biting into a cold slice. Tim makes a face as he stirs his pasta. "You aren't going to heat it up?"

"It gets rubbery in the microwave," Jason says, taking another bite. "And I'm too impatient to put it in the oven."

"I'm dating a Philistine," Tim deadpans. "This is news to me. I feel like this should have been on the label. Jason Todd, comes with charming smile and adorable kid, makes terrible food decisions."

"I'll look into getting the tattoo," Jason says, turning so he can point to his shoulder. "Think it'll fit here?"

Tim breaks first, laughing as he takes his pasta out of the microwave and leans against the counter to eat it. "I'm only working until midnight, so I can stay home with Damian tomorrow. I'm covering two shifts on Friday, though. Can you take the day off?"

"Probably," Jason says as he finishes his pizza. "I'll ask Tyler tomorrow. Winter is really slow at the shop, so I don't think it'll be a problem."

Tim nods. "We're both off on Saturday, and you're off on Sunday, too. Think he'll be better by Monday?"

"We'll see," Jason says with a shrug. "For all I know right now, he'll spend all day tomorrow throwing up and then be completely fine by Friday."

"God, I hope not," Tim says, a look of complete horror on his face. "I don't even - how do you handle that?"

"Call me," Jason advises. "I'll come home if he's throwing up. It's totally disgusting, and if he's throwing up, he wants to cuddle, which means that you'll be throwing up, too." Tim looks even more horrified, and Jason chuckles. "Kids are gross, remember?"

"You did warn me," Tim says, shaking his head with a grimace. "Need me to bring anything home?"

"Baby Tylenol," Jason says. "Maybe some Pedialyte, too. I have no idea if he's going to want to eat or not."

Tim nods as he puts his dishes in the sink and heads for the front of the house. "Text me if you think of anything else, okay?"

"Okay," Jason says, following him to the door. He waits until Tim has all of his winter gear on before ducking in and kissing his nose, which is pretty much the only exposed skin left. "Have a good night."

"Get some sleep," Tim replies, touching his gloved fingers to where Jason figures his lips are beneath the scarf and then touching them to Jason's cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," Jason says, opening the door and watching as Tim makes his way to the car and gets in. He doesn't close the door until Tim has made his way down the street and turned out of sight.

He makes his way up the stairs and sits in the chair in Damian's room, watching his son sleep. Damian will be fine, Jason is sure, but he'll sit in here with him until Tim gets home anyway. It can't hurt.

-0-

"I don't think Damian likes the cold," Tim says when Jason walks in the door. The snow has mostly melted, thanks to a surprisingly warm week at the end of February, but it's gotten fairly chilly again in the past couple of days.

"I don't think he does either," Jason says, surveying the sofa as he takes his coat off. Tim has one of Jason's old hoodies on, and he has a few blankets piled on his lap. One of them is drawn halfway up his chest. "I'd say he gets that from you, but I'm pretty sure I'd remember you being pregnant with him."

Tim raises an eyebrow. "Who's to say that I didn't knock you up?"

"Fair point," Jason agrees, bending over to unlace his boots. He kicks them off and stands again, looking around. "Speaking of our kid, where-"

There's a giggling sound from the sofa, and Jason narrows his eyes at the blanket pile. "Is he under there with you?"

The whole blanket pile shifts, and a few seconds later, Damian's face pops out of the neckline of the sweatshirt that Tim is wearing.

Jason can feel his eyebrows climbing towards his hairline. Damian apparently thinks his expression is hilarious, because he puts his face against Tim's neck and laughs hard enough that Tim has to wrap an arm around him to keep him from falling over.

"Well, we were both chilly," Tim says, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "We decided that your hoodie looked warm, so we had some cuddle time in it."

"Jesus Christ," Jason says, snorting as he walks to the sofa. "So, did anything exciting happen while I was gone? Other than you discovering that the two of you can fit into my clothing, that is."

Tim smiles brilliantly. "I got something in the mail today. It's in the kitchen, though, and I'm stuck here until Damian decides to climb out of the shirt, so you're gonna have to get it."

"Aw, I just sat down." Jason whines, leaning in to kiss Tim hello and blow raspberries against Damian's forehead. "Do I have to?"

"Well, you can wait," Tim says, "but I'm not going to tell you, I'm going to show you. The choice is yours."

Jason grumbles as he stands and walks into the kitchen. He grabs the stack of mail and brings the whole thing back to Tim, who shuffles through it as Jason sits down again and drapes himself around Tim and Damian.

"Here," Tim says, handing him an open envelope. It has an official-looking return address for a company that Jason has heard of but can't place.

He pulls out the single sheet of paper inside and scans it quickly, face breaking into a grin. "You passed the GED already? I didn't even know you’d taken it."

Tim shrugs. "I wasn't worried about it, so I took it a few weeks ago. There's a testing center a few miles away."

"Awesome," Jason says, leaning over to give Tim another kiss. "What's the next step?"

Tim plucks another envelope from the pile and hands it to him. This time, the return address is for a local community college, and the letter inside is congratulating Tim on his acceptance to their computer sciences program. Jason reads it twice before looking at Tim. "You're going to college? I mean, I knew you were planning to, but..."

"I explained my situation to the dean of admissions," Tim says. "They do a lot of online classes, especially for core subjects. I can do several of them from here, without having to travel to and from campus every day. If I do two years here, there's a whole list of schools I can transfer to that will give me reduced tuition for having finished those two years already." He smiles. "I can start with the summer term, or I can wait until fall."

Jason smiles widely. "You're going to college and you're staying here at the same time, plus you figured out how to do it economically. Have I told you lately that you're brilliant, Timmy?"

"I-" Tim shakes his head. "Timmy? Really?"

"I could not?" Jason offers, running a hand through his hair. "Or, well, I could really, really try not to. It kind of just slipped out."

Tim looks amused. "Something tells me that it's going to keep 'slipping out.'"

"It's entirely possible," Jason agrees, waiting a moment before adding, "Timmy."

Tim snorts and shoves him, and Jason grins as he wraps an arm around Tim. He looks down at Damian, who is watching him from his perch inside the sweatshirt. "Hey, buddy, it's Daddy's turn to hug Tim now, okay?"

"I hug," Damian announces. There's some shuffling under the shirt and then Tim gurgles a little.

"Damian, don't grab like that," Tim says, reaching into the shirt. He takes a deep breath a moment later. "Better."

"Damian," Jason tries, "you have to share, remember? Share Tim hugs with Daddy."

Damian narrows his eyes at Jason before wriggling an arm out of the sweatshirt. He reaches for Jason, turning until he can get his arm halfway around Jason's neck. Jason's forehead is resting against Tim's, and Damian has an arm on both of their necks.

Tim laughs as he leans up to peck Jason on the lips. "Looks like he got his brains from me, too."

"Not arguing on that one," Jason says, grinning. "Are we going out for dinner to celebrate?"

"Meatballs," Damian says, letting go of Jason's neck so he can pat him on the cheek. "Out and meatballs, Daddy?"

"Tim's choice," Jason says. "What do you think, Tim?"

"Italian sounds good," Tim agrees. "I could go for some pasta and cheese."

"An’ meatballs," Damian adds, wriggling until he disappears back into the neckline of Jason's impossibly stretched out shirt. Tim and Jason watch as he backs his way out of the shirt entirely, taking the blankets with him as he lands on the floor. "Eat meatballs!"

"That was slightly disturbing," Jason says, watching as Damian walks towards the shoe pile near the door. His head disappears as he sits down, presumably to pull shoes that don't match onto the wrong feet.

"You're telling me," Tim mutters. "Now I really do feel like I birthed him."

Jason makes a face. "You had to say it, didn't you? Now I'll never unsee it."

Tim pats Jason's thigh. "You started it, Jay."

"I guess," Jason says, shaking his head. "Let's go eat. That'll clear my head."

"I'm sure," Tim says dryly. "Let's go."

Jason leans in for another kiss. He makes it slow and soft, lingering until Damian makes an impatient sound in the hallway. Jason pulls back and looks at Tim. "Congratulations, Tim. You're amazing."

Tim smiles. "You're not so bad yourself."

-0-

"I hate April," Tim mutters as he collapses onto the sofa beside Jason. "April is the worst month."

"See, I've always thought that was January," Jason says, turning so he can look at his partner. He raises an eyebrow. "Wow. You are… wet."

It's an understatement. Tim looks like he somehow figured out how to swim home from his shift at the grocery store. His hair has lost every ounce of styling product that he'd put into it, and it flops down onto his pouting face.

Tim flings his arm towards the door. "April. It rains in April."

"April showers bring May flowers," Jason singsongs.

"May flowers bring June bugs," Tim retorts. He shifts a little bit. "I don't know how I'm going to peel these clothes off. They might be stuck to me forever."

Jason waggles his eyebrows. "I can help with that problem."

"Right, because what I'm really in the mood for right now is sex," Tim says dryly. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Prince Charming, but the step after clothing removal is a warm shower, hopefully followed by curling up with my furnace of a boyfriend and zoning out for a while."

"I think I'll live with the rejection," Jason says. "I'm all for the warming-up cuddles."

"You're all for the whenever-you-can-get-them cuddles," Tim replies, raising an eyebrow. "It's a really good thing I'm not around you and Dick at the same time, because there would never be a time when I wasn't being hugged by _someone_."

"You like hugs," Jason objects. "You just said you wanted to curl up with me!"

Tim sighs and leans forward, resting his arms on his thighs. "I - yes, Jason, I like it when you hug me. I like it when Damian does, too. I still don't really like it when most people touch me, though."

Jason blinks. "Even Dick?"

"Even Dick, though that might be the sheer amount," Tim says. "I'm not… I never got used to casual touching. Not when I was a kid, and not when I was living with B." Jason snorts, and Tim flashes him a smile before continuing. "Part of me thinks the reason I like sleeping with you - the actual sleeping part - is because I'm trying to make up for lost time and opportunity in the human contact department. Another part of me thinks I don't like people touching me because I never realized it was a normal thing that people do until way too late in my life."

"Geez," Jason says. He scoots over and throws an arm around Tim's soggy shoulders, pulling him into a sideways hug. "That's why you sometimes tense up when I hug you?"

"Sorry," Tim mutters, leaning his head into Jason's shoulder. "Also, you're getting soaked."

"I hear warm showers are a must after getting rained on," Jason replies. "Second-hand rain totally counts."

Tim relaxes bit by bit, and after a few minutes, he sighs. "I promise I'm getting better about the touching thing."

"Hey, no," Jason says, squeezing Tim's shoulder. "If you're not in a hug mood, you're not in a hug mood. Tell me to back off and I will." Tim makes a noncommittal noise, and Jason shakes his shoulder a little. "I don't make Damian hug people he doesn't want to hug. You don't have to, either, even if it's me. Or him."

"It's a hug," Tim says. "It shouldn't be a big deal."

"But it is, and that's _not_ a big deal," Jason replies. "No means no, and the context doesn't matter. That's what we're teaching Damian. Let's give him a good example, right?"

Tim sighs again, but this time it sounds more like a release of tension than anything bad. "Thanks, Jay."

"Anytime," Jason replies, squeezing his shoulder again. "So, about that warm shower…"

"Right," Tim snickers. "No clothed hugs, but shared naked showers are fine."

"No means no," Jason repeats dutifully. "I will let you shower in peace if that's what you want. I might sit outside the bathroom and make sad faces at the wall the whole time, but-"

"Come on," Tim says, laughing outright as he stands and offers Jason a hand. "Let's go. Upstairs."

"Shared naked showers?" Jason asks hopefully.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get used to it," Tim says, threading their fingers together as they walk up the staircase. "I don't want you getting spoiled."

"You are way too late for that," Jason informs him, grinning when Tim rolls his eyes. "Hey, you spoil Damian all the time. It's my turn."

"I don't spoil him," Tim objects as they walk into the bathroom. He starts the water while Jason pulls his shirt off.

Jason raises an eyebrow when Tim turns around and starts peeling his wet clothes off. "Tim, I stopped letting you take Damian to the store alone because you never came home without a new animal for the zoo."

"He loves his zoo," Tim protests, leaning against the vanity so he can peel his socks off one after the other. "He's started naming them things that aren't just their animal names. I'm encouraging creativity."

"He has a monkey named Toaster and a butterfly named Chair, Timmy," Jason points out. "He's not being creative, he's naming them after the first things he sees when you ask him what their names are."

"It's creativity," Tim says stubbornly. "It's fine."

Jason toes his socks off and holds the curtain back for Tim as he climbs into the shower. "Okay, creativity, sure. Last time you went to Walmart, you came home with a lion _and_ a tiger. What, you thought he'd be extra creative with more ammo?"

"Well, he wasn't with me, so I didn't know which one he'd like more!" TIm protests. Jason pulls the curtain closed behind them and turns to raise an eyebrow at Tim again. Tim glares for a few seconds before frowning. "I do spoil him, don't I?"

"It's fine," Jason reassures him, stepping into the spray with Tim to give him a hug. He pauses with his arms halfway around Tim, looking down. "Is this okay?"

"I'll tell you if it isn't," Tim promises, wrapping his arms around Jason's waist and hugging back.

-0-

If there's one thing that Jason has learned in the two years he's been living in small-town coastal New Jersey, it's that summers are _brutal_. The weather is hot and humid from late May to mid-September, and for all people talk about how nice it is to have the breeze from the ocean to cool things down, it doesn't actually help if you're more than a mile inland. It's also full of tourists almost every day from Memorial Day to Labor Day, which severely cuts into the amount of time that Jason wants to spend on the beach.

"Hey," he says two weeks before Memorial Day. "It's supposed to be really nice this weekend. We should go to the beach before tourist season hits."

Tim looks up from his book, eyebrow raised. "You want to do what?"

"Go to the beach," Jason repeats. "Swim. Make a sandcastle. Eat chili dogs from vendors of dubious reputation."

"Jason," Tim says, putting his book down in his lap, "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Well, for one, Damian and sand are something like mortal enemies," Tim says. "For another, unless I stay fully clothed and wear a ridiculous hat, there's no way I won't get horribly sunburnt."

Jason frowns. "They make this awesome thing called sunscreen. You should look into it."

"I don't have a prescription on file," Tim replies. "I can't use a lot of the over-the-counter stuff. I'd need to see a doctor."

"They have _prescription sunscreen_?" Jason asks, shaking his head. "What, is it extra-strength or something?"

"Yes, and it's formulated without a lot of ingredients that people are commonly allergic to," Tim says. "For instance, the kind I get isn't made out of zinc oxide, so it doesn't give me hives. And as fascinating as my sunscreen is, it doesn't solve the problem of getting Damian into what is essentially a giant sandbox."

"Well," Jason hedges. "I figured that, between you and me, we could make it fun for him. Get him in the water, you know? He loves splashing around in the tub."

"Fair point," Tim says, tilting his head to the side. "The endless bathtub might outweigh the huge sandbox. I'm not sure, but it's possible."

"I have hope," Jason says. "But if you're going to be miserable all day because of sunscreen issues, then nevermind. We can wait until after Labor Day and try then."

"Or we can pick a weekend in the summer," Tim says, but Jason starts shaking his head before Tim finishes.

"You will learn," Jason says seriously. "It's the one drawback to living around here. The town gets infested with tourists."

"'Infested' is a strong word," Tim says, raising an eyebrow. "They're not cockroaches, Jason. Tourism brings a lot of money to the area."

"Yeah, and we'd be sunk without it, I know," Jason replies. "Doesn't mean I have to like it when a thousand people descend on my town every weekend like locusts."

"Locusts," Tim repeats. "That's… okay, I guess I'll reserve judgment. You've been here a lot longer than I have."

"You'll see," Jason says darkly. "Anyway, the beach thing was just a thought. We do both have the weekend off, though, so we should figure out something to do as a family."

Tim smiles and hums. "Let me make a few phone calls and get back to you, okay?"

"Sure," Jason says, heading upstairs to get Damian up from his nap. He's getting kind of huge, which makes Jason ache a little. They're going to have to get him an actual bed soon, because if Jason is being honest with himself, Damian is already too old for the crib. He's known for months how to let the side of the crib down so he can climb out when he's ready to be up.

Damian is already awake when Jason goes into the room. He's curled up on Panda, who is looking a little worse for the wear, and he's paging through _We're Going on a Bear Hunt_ , imitating the noises that Pam, his new teacher at daycare, makes as she reads it. "Hey, buddy. Did you have a good nap?"

"Uh oh," Damian says, pointing at the book. "River."

"Splash splosh," Jason says. "See, this is why I'm pretty sure you'd love the ocean. You and your splashes and your sploshes."

Damian smiles as he stands, bringing the book over to Jason and lifting his hands. Jason bends over to pick him up and they walk downstairs together.

Tim is standing in the kitchen, phone pressed to his ear as he nods and writes something on the whiteboard. "Okay, that sounds great. Thanks for squeezing me in."

"What's up?" Jason asks as he puts Damian in his booster seat. Tim opens the refrigerator and gets out the container of apple slices, grabbing a dish for Damian's snack.

"I made an appointment with a local doctor," Tim says, scooping out a few slices and giving the bowl to Damian. "They can see me tomorrow before I go to work, so I can get a prescription for sunscreen and get it filled before the weekend."

Jason stares. "Tim, when I said 'figure out something to do,' I didn't mean 'figure out how to do what I want to do even though you don't really want to do it.'"

"But you want to do it," Tim says, shrugging. "It's not like I wouldn't have had to get it eventually. Might as well do it now, right?"

Jason grins and grabs Tim's wrist when he comes over to slip Damian a few more apple slices, and Tim smiles back as he leans in for a kiss.

The week goes by fairly quickly, when all is said and done, and when Saturday morning rolls around, they pack the car with beach towels and a cooler full of water and juice boxes. Damian thinks his swimsuit is the most fascinating thing he's ever worn, and he runs around the house apparently just to hear the swish-swish sound his legs make. Jason is just glad for the extra padding in the life vest shirt he's wearing when Damian crashes into the bedstand in the spare room. Tim finally catches him and wrestles him into his car seat, and Jason grins as they pull out of the driveway and head towards the beach. It's looking like a good day.

The parking situation is a little intense, but Jason is still in good spirits when they manage to get a spot. Jason carries most of the supplies while Tim carries Damian, and before long, they're walking onto the boardwalk. Damian is spellbound, looking around at all of the vendors and arcade games and amusement park rides up and down the walk.

"What do you think, Dami?" Tim asks, walking in a slow circle so Damian can take everything in.

Damian is quiet for a moment, eyes wide, before taking a deep breath and smiling widely. "Woooooooow!"

Tim and Jason both laugh, and Jason jerks his chin up the walk, where the vendors thin out and the beach opens up. They walk that way, and Jason is ready to head down the steps to the beach when he hears Damian whine.

"No sandbox," he complains, wriggling in Tim's arms. "Itchy."

Jason points to the ocean. "We have to walk across the sand to get to the water, Damian. Don't you want to splash in the big bathtub?"

Damian looks at the sand, then at the water, then back to the sand. "No."

"We'll carry you over the sand," Jason promises. "You don't have to touch it, not even once."

"If you don't like the ocean, Damian, then you and I can come back up onto the boardwalk," Tim adds. "Let's try swimming with Daddy first, though, okay?"

Damian still looks like he doesn't love the idea, but he doesn't complain as Tim carries him onto the beach. They pick out a spot and spread their towels, and Jason sets the cooler in the sand. It's a great spot, all told, and they brought enough towels to spread a few out on the sand and still keep some sand-free ones to dry off with.

"Do you have one of those floating ring things for him?" Tim asks, looking through the beach bag.

"I got the arm band ones," Jason replies, focusing on slathering Damian's face with sunscreen again. It hadn't been easy to do at home, and Damian doesn't like it any more now that they're here, but Jason figures that between the two applications Damian is probably safe from sunburn. "I wanted to make sure he could still reach the water."

"Right," Tim says, fishing the package out of the bag and tearing it open. It's the work of a couple of minutes to get them inflated and onto Damian's arms, and then Jason shucks his shirt and lifts Damian up.

"You sure you don't want to come?" Jason asks as he settles Damian onto his hip.

Tim pulls a book from the beach bag and shakes his head. "I'll be much happier here. You guys have fun."

"You, too," Jason says, turning to Damian. "Ready to make some big splashes?" 

"Splash?" Damian says doubtfully, looking at the ocean. It's fairly calm, the waves rolling in more than crashing. It's a decent first exposure to the beach, really. Jason wades into the water, stopping when he gets to about mid-calf before lowering Damian towards the surface.

"One, two, three," Jason counts, swinging Damian slightly above the surface before dipping his feet in.

"Cold!" Damian shrieks immediately, curling his legs up to his body and gripping Jason's arms. "No cold splash Daddy sand _no_!"

Jason pulls him back up, patting his back until he calms down a little. "Okay, yeah, it's a little cold. Daddy didn't think about that, sorry. Want to try it again?"

"No," Damian says fiercely. "Go Mimmy."

Jason sighs and trudges back out of the water, walking back towards Tim. He dries Damian's feet off before putting him in Tim's lap. Damian latches his arm around Tim's neck, and Jason has to bite his lip to keep from snickering at the sight of Tim's face almost disappearing between Damian's bright orange swim floats.

"Let's get those off," Tim says, detaching Damian's arms and pulling the floats off. "Do you want to lay on the towel, or do you want to go back up to the boardwalk?"

"Boar'walk," Damian says immediately. "No sand."

Tim laughs and puts his book away. "I kind of figured you were going to say that."

"Let's pack this up," Jason says, sighing as he starts shaking out one of the towels.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tim says, rolling his eyes. "You want to swim, go swim. I'll take our wallets with me so you don't have to worry about them, and the towels can sit right here. Damian and I can amuse ourselves. Right, Dami?"

Damian nods, looking longingly back towards the boardwalk. Jason hesitates for a moment before nodding as well.

"I'll see you guys in a little while," he promises, walking back towards the water. He wades all the way in and dunks his head under, shivering once when he surfaces again. The ocean around here is freezing until about mid-July. Jason can't believe he'd forgotten that.

He swims for a while, paddling around and letting himself bob in the waves. He can't see where Tim and Damian went, and he frowns up at the boardwalk, trying to pick them out of the people sitting and standing up there. He gives up after a little while, ducking his head back under before heading back to shore. He dries off and starts to pack up the beach supplies, scanning the boardwalk again now that he's closer.

Tim and Damian are sitting on a bench near the staircase. Damian is in Tim's lap, eagerly opening his mouth as Tim scoops a bite of what appears to be frozen custard out of a cup before feeding it to Damian. Tim scoops himself a bite, too, and Jason finds himself stuck in place, watching as Tim feeds Damian another bite and laughs when Damian smacks a custard-sticky kiss to his cheek. He says something that Jason can't hear, rubbing at Damian's mouth with a napkin, and suddenly all Jason wants to do is be up there with the two most important people in his world.

Jason might have become a little bit of a sap in the last eighteen months or so. He thinks it's probably allowed.

He shoves the rest of their things into the bag kind of haphazardly before grabbing it and the cooler and walking as quickly as he can towards the stairs. Damian sees him when he's about halfway there, and Jason can hear him babbling excitedly to Tim as he waves both hands.

"Had enough of the ocean?" Tim asks, turning his face up when Jason leans down to give him a kiss. "We ate all the custard. Sorry."

"Liar," Jason says, grinning. "You're not sorry at all."

Tim hums. "Maybe not, but I'm sure we'd be more than happy to share another one if you're interested."

"Mango," Damian adds almost reverentially. " _Good_ , Daddy. Daddy mango?"

"We got mango ice and custard," Tim explains. "Damian is a huge fan."

Jason laughs. "Sounds like it. Let me put the stuff back in the car, and then we can hang around the boardwalk for a while, okay?"

The afternoon is pretty awesome, even if there's a lot less swimming than Jason was hoping for. Tim is good enough at arcade games that the hawkers start refusing to let him play, but Damian gets four new stuffed animals before they hit that point. They end the day at the small aquarium near the end of the boardwalk, and Damian spends a while with his face pressed against the window of the penguin exhibit, watching them waddle back and forth.

Tim nudges Jason's arm and points to a plaque near the exhibit's window. "You can adopt a penguin, Nate. I think he needs one."

"His birthday is in a few months," Jason muses, taking a brochure. "We might want to wait a couple of years, though, until he understands that adopting it doesn't mean we get to bring it home."

Damian giggles as one of the penguins dives into the water. "Mimmy, Daddy! Penguin swim!"

Jason smiles and walks forward so he can crouch down next to Damian. "What's with you and the black-and-white animals, huh?"

"Penguin," Damian says, stretching his arms out and waddling around in front of the exhibit. Jason hears Tim laugh, and when he looks back, he sees that Tim has his phone out. Knowing his partner as he does, Jason figures that Tim is probably recording the whole thing.

Unsurprisingly, they end up getting a stuffed penguin from the gift shop. Damian holds it the entire ride home, apparently telling it all about the new friends it's going to make. It's more words than baby babble, and Jason is once again struck by the fact that Damian is leaving babydom behind kind of quickly.

By the time they get home, though, Damian is fast asleep, probably due to the combination of a day spent running around in the sun and a sugar crash. He doesn't even grumble when Tim pries the penguin from his hands and pulls him gently from the car seat.

"I'll get him into bed," Tim says softly. "You need to proceed directly to the shower, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars."

"I'm not that bad," Jason protests.

"Sand," Tim says, narrowing his eyes. "Damian and I are kindred spirits on this one. I do not want sand in our bed."

Jason grins as he unlocks the door. "I'll carry our stuff in and then I'll get clean," he promises, bending down to kiss Damian's face before standing to kiss Tim quickly. "Thanks for going along with my dumb idea for the day. You were right."

"Of course I was," Tim says, but he's smiling softly. "We all had a good time."

"Sure did," Jason agrees, heading back to the car while Tim walks Damian up to his room.

Jason shakes out the sandy towels as well as he can before bringing the whole mess directly up to the laundry room. He strips while he's in there, doing his best to keep as much of the sand in one place as he can. It'll be way easier to clean it up later if it doesn't get tracked all over the house.

"Jay?" Tim calls, shutting the door to Damian's room.

"In here," Jason says, sticking his hand out of the doorway of the laundry room and waving it around. "Avert your delicate eyes. I'm naked."

"That would be a lot more appealing if you weren't currently sandpaper," Tim says, wrinkling his nose as he leans against the doorway. "How can you stand all the sand touching you?"

Jason laughs and grabs Tim's hand, and for all of his protesting, Tim doesn't hesitate to walk into Jason's full-body hug. Jason wraps his arms around Tim's waist and presses his face into Tim's hair. “When you’ve waded through the sewers praying Killer Croc doesn’t bite you, the beach is a piece of cake.”

“I’m not sure what you see in me, then,” Tim grumbles. “Here stands the former Boy Wonder, felled by acts of nature.”

Jason ducks down and blows a raspberry on the back of Tim’s neck. "How could I not love your… well, everything?"

He can feel Tim's frown against his chest. "I don't understand how my weird aversion to the beach makes me more loveable."

Jason squeezes him once before letting him go and stepping back. "It's a small part of the overall love. Less than two percent."

Tim smiles a little, and Jason notices for the first time that his entire face and neck are flushed red. "Holy shit. I thought you got fancy sunscreen!"

"I did," Tim says, looking away. "I'm not - I'm fine, I promise. Go take your shower."

Jason touches Tim's skin lightly. It's definitely warm to the touch. "Tim, you need to get some aloe on that."

Tim pushes him out of the laundry room and into the bathroom. "Shower. Now. Do it."

"I need clothes," Jason protests as Tim pulls the door shut.

"No, you really don't," Tim replies. "Take your shower, Jason."

Jason shakes his head and starts the water. It's not until after he's managed to get all of the sand out of his hair that he realises that yeah, he'd said the L-word, and that wasn't Tim being sunburnt, it was Tim blushing so hard that he'd gone full tomato.

He shakes his head. That probably wasn't the right way to put that out in the open, but it's there now. All he can do is hope that Tim isn't too freaked out.

He finishes scrubbing himself clean and turns the shower off, toweling down before poking his head out the door. There's no clothing in sight, so Jason wraps his towel around his waist and walks to the bedroom.

Jason manages to get into the room and close the door behind him before Tim pushes him back against the wall. Jason's hands go to Tim's waist out of reflex, and it's not until that moment that Jason realizes that his towel-clad state makes him the more clothed one in the room.

Tim kisses him before he can say anything, and it's hot and slow and perfect. Jason groans and kisses him back, blinking when Tim pulls away.

"Tim?"

Tim smiles and laces their fingers together. "C'mon." He tugs and Jason follows, not protesting as Tim pulls the towel off and drops it to the floor. He pushes Jason onto the bed and climbs into his lap, and Jason is already leaning up to kiss him again when Tim puts a hand on his chest. "Wait, hang on."

"Huh?" Jason has no idea what's going through Tim's head at the moment. He takes a breath and does his best to smile. "What is it?"

"Uh, this probably isn't the best timing, but waiting until after would be even worse, so..." Tim takes a deep breath and squares his shoulders like he's bracing for something he's not sure he can handle. "I love you. Too. I mean, you said - and I... yeah."

Jason smiles as he strokes Tim's hip. "I kinda figured. I mean, you're a lot more than a roommate." He gestures around the master bedroom at Tim's discarded shirts and the proliferation of hair products on the right-side dresser.

Tim winces. "Um. Sorry I'm a mess?"

"Are you fucking serious right now?" 

Tim opens his mouth, probably to apologize again, so Jason gets a hand on the back of Tim's neck and pulls him in for a kiss, and then another, and another. Tim lets Jason shut him up for a little while, but then he makes a noise like he _still_ wants to talk.

Jason pulls back and raises an eyebrow. "Is this something that should be said right now, or are you going to apologize for shit that doesn't bother me again?" 

Tim frowns like he's not sure Jason is speaking English, and Jason shakes his head. "Timmy. Keep in mind that a) I said it first, and b) you spent all morning walking the boardwalk with my kid. _Our_ kid."

Jason watches as Tim opens his mouth and closes it again, and then he gets that really soft smile. "He's - he's really a great kid, Jay." 

"The greatest thing about him is that he's _asleep_ right now," Jason reminds him, and wriggles his hips.

Tim groans. "I'm trying to-"

"Later. I will listen to you rave about how awesome he is later, I promise-" Jason breaks off with a groan as Tim moves, and Tim smirks.

"I'll hold you to that," Tim says, and this time when Jason leans in for a kiss, Tim meets him wholeheartedly.

-0-

"We really need to do something about the layout of this house."

"What?" Jason asks, glancing at Tim from the kitchen. "You mean the furniture and stuff? I don't love a lot of the interior decorating, either. We can take a look around if you want."

"I mean the _house_ ," Tim says, dropping into one of the chairs at the table. "Jason. Our house is lumpy."

Jason is glad that he's facing the cabinets, because "our house" is definitely making his stomach do flip-flop things. He can't imagine what it's doing to his face. He nods after a moment. "Sometimes I get the feeling that buying this place was Talia's revenge for nine months of pain and discomfort."

Tim snorts. "It wouldn't surprise me. It looks like they hired three terrible architects to design a home, chose the worst parts of each, and made a Franken-house." He makes a face. "I love you, I love living with you, but I do not love Franken-house."

"It's not the greatest house," Jason agrees, poking at the stir fry he's making. "I'm actually kind of impressed the upper floor is structurally sound." 

"I have my doubts about that. Have you jumped on the floor in the laundry room?"

Jason turns so Tim can see him raise an eyebrow. "Uh, no?"

"Damian has," Tim replies. "He likes the fact that it's 'sproingy.'"

"That... does not sound like a good floor word," Jason admits. "Do we have to worry about the washer suddenly ending up in the kitchen?"

"Here's a better question," Tim counters. "Who puts a laundry room on the second floor?"

"One of three terrible architects?" Jason suggests. "C'mere, taste this. I don't know if it's sweet enough."

Tim stands and walks over, opening his mouth so Jason can shove a spoonful of rice in. He chews for a minute before shaking his head. "Is it supposed to be sweet or spicy? It's kind of both and kind of neither."

"Damn," Jason says, sighing and grabbing a few things from the cabinet. He pours some more spices into the pan and covers it, letting it all simmer down for a little while. "So, what do you want to do about the sproingy floor and the upstairs laundry room?"

"And the lumps," Tim adds. "Did you know that the bottom floor of the house is six feet wider than the top floor?"

"It's that much?" Jason says, surprised. "I know the back room is-"

"A mess," Tim says, throwing his hands in the air. "I don't even know how to fix half of the things that bug me about this house, short of tearing the whole thing down and starting from scratch."

Jason shrugs. "So let's do that."

Tim freezes, hands still in midair. "What?"

"Let's rip it down," Jason suggests. "You hate it, I don't love it, Damian is too young to get a vote but won't care as long as he has a place for the zoo. Let's build a new one."

"A new one," Tim repeats. "A new house. Just like that."

Jason turns off the stir fry and moves the pan off of the stove. "I mean, we don't have to. It would be a lot of work. You're starting school at the end of the summer, and we'd have to stay somewhere else for a while. Maybe we should wait."

"No," Tim says, finally lowering his arms. "No, let's not wait. Let's do it before we get complacent."

"Complacent," Jason echoes with a grin, scooping the stir fry into a serving bowl. "You know, I'm pretty sure there's no way you'd get complacent enough to actually like living in this house."

"It's a terrible house, Jay," Tim says, grabbing the bowl and setting it on the table. "It's a good house in that it's paid for, and it has heat and electricity and running water. Everything else about it is horrible."

"I like our bed," Jason volunteers. "It's a good height. Nice and wide, too."

"You like our bed because it's easy to have sex in our bed," Tim says, but he's starting to smile. "We can keep the bed if you're that attached to it."

"And the dresser," Jason says.

"No," Tim replies. "I'm putting my foot down on the dresser. We'll pick out one that doesn't look like Talia stole it from the Addams Family."

Jason can only laugh at that.

-0-

Jason is already home by the time Tim and Damian get there. He gets out of work a little later than Tim does, which is why Tim is the one picking Damian up from daycare; still, they usually beat him home by a few minutes. Jason glances at the clock when the door finally opens, surprised to find that he's been home for nearly half an hour.

Damian is holding something in his hands, but Jason can't tell what it is before Damian plops down in the hallway to take his shoes off. He pops back up a minute later, and he glances back at Tim, who smiles down at him. "Go show Daddy what you made in school today."

Damian grins hugely up at Tim before running over to Jason. He's holding a piece of paper, Jason can see, and he leans down to scoop Damian up. "What's that, kiddo?"

"Picture!" Damian says gleefully, pushing the paper against Jason's chest. "Dami an' Daddy an' Mimmy!"

Jason is grateful for the explanation, because those… do not look like people. At all. Still, as far as he knows it's the first time that Damian has drawn his family. They all resemble amoebae more than humans, but there are two bigger ones standing to either side of a smaller one, so Jason can get the basic idea of what's going on.

"Wow," Jason says, walking to the refrigerator and sticking the picture up. "That's a good picture, Damian. Did your teacher like it?"

Damian frowns darkly. "No Mommy. Mimmy."

Tim snorts from behind them, and Jason turns around to see Tim leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Apparently there was a slight misunderstanding at school today."

"Oh?"

"Damian had a substitute teacher," Tim explains. "As far as I can tell, they didn't fill her in on Damian's parental situation, so she and Damian got into a fight about how he was saying 'Mommy' when he labelled his picture."

Jason grins. "Nobody stepped in?"

"It doesn't sound like it," Tim says with a shrug. "She talked my ear off when I got there, though, about how Damian drew such a wonderful picture of his family, and how she assured him that his mom and dad would love it, and that he got very upset when she said that, and was there something that we needed to tell the administration?"

"Oh my God," Jason says, laughing. "What did you do?"

"I didn't have to do much of anything," Tim says with a grin. "Our son has an impeccable sense of timing, because as I was opening my mouth to ask for some clarification, he grabbed my belt loops and yelled my name."

"I can't even begin to picture the look on her face when she realized that you weren't Daddy," Jason says, snickering.

"It was pretty hilarious," Tim agrees. "So yeah, he's yelling 'Mimmy, Mimmy, go home,' so I pick him up and look back at the teacher. She's in the process of turning three different shades of red by this point, practically tripping over herself to apologize, so I had to try to calm her down a little and explain that Damian has two dads, and yes, he calls me something that is unfortunately close to 'Mommy.'"

Jason is laughing outright by this point. "God, that's just too perfect."

Tim joins in the laughter, and before long, Damian is giggling along with them. Tim comes over when he composes himself, still smiling when he leans in to kiss Jason hello. "So, that was the highlight of my day. How was yours?"

"Fine," Jason says, leaning down to put Damian back on the floor. He watches as Damian wanders into the back room, probably looking for Panda. "I found out some interesting news about our lumpy house earlier."

"Oh?" Tim says. It's his night to cook, so Jason sits at the kitchen table while he pulls things from the refrigerator. "Good-interesting or bad-interesting?"

"Well, our house has the reputation of being _that house_ ," Jason says. "It's the starter home that people keep moving into and then out of as soon as they can afford to get a nicer place."

"Why am I not surprised?" Tim says, rolling his eyes. "I told you it was an awful house. The previous owners agree with me."

"Seven families in the past fifteen years, us included," Jason says. "That's not coincidence, that's a pattern."

Tim whistles. "That's a lot. How'd you find that out?"

"Tyler," Jason says, getting up so he can poke his head in and check on Damian. "I told him that we were meeting with an architect to draw up plans for a rebuild, and he filled me in on our home's illustrious history."

"Great," Tim says. "Hey, can you grab the salt? The shaker is empty, and the refill is in the back."

"Lower cabinets in the new kitchen?" Jason teases as he reaches into the back of the cabinet for the salt refill. Tim elbows him lightly before taking it. "Anyway, yeah, this is _that house_. Tyler said Debbie will be ecstatic to find out that we're knocking it down and starting over."

"Does everyone in the neighborhood hate our house?" Tim asks, refilling the salt shaker and handing the refill back to Jason.

"Not as much as you do," Jason promises, replacing the refill. "Nobody hates our house as much as you do, Timmy. I think that's a given."

"I don't know, the architect was pretty horrified," Tim says thoughtfully, sprinkling a little salt on the top of the dish before covering it with foil. "On that note, though, we should take another look at the plans after we eat. I'd like to get back to him as soon as we can so we can move on to the next step."

"Knocking the house down," Jason says, grinning. "You'll be in here with a sledgehammer as soon as we move out, won't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Tim says, raising an eyebrow. "A backhoe would be much more efficient."

"That'll be a sight," Jason says. "I hope you don't mind me recording that for posterity."

"It will be a moment of triumph," Tim replies, putting the dish into the oven. "I'll be upset if you _don't_ record it for posterity."

Jason smiles. "Count on it, then."

-0-

"Yo, Nate," Tyler calls. Jason pokes his head out from beneath Mr. Azzolini's car, wiping his hands on the rag from his pocket. Tyler is waving his phone around. "I don't know what's going on, man, but your phone is going nuts."

Jason frowns and rolls the rest of the way out. "Is it Tim?"

"Nope," Tyler says. "I was gonna pick it up if it was, but it's an unknown number. It rings, it stops, and then it starts again. I don't think they're leaving messages."

Jason's stomach clenches as his phone starts ringing again. Tyler looks at the screen and shrugs, walking it over and handing it to him. He jerks his head at the office door. "It's open if you need some privacy."

"Thanks,' Jason says, forcing himself to swallow as he opens his phone. "Hello?"

"You need to get out of there," Talia says frantically. "Take Damian and leave. My father is on his way to you."

"What?" Jason hisses, almost falling off of the creeper in his haste to get up. "What are you talking about?"

"He has been searching for Timothy Drake," Talia replies. Jason runs into the office and slams the door behind himself, locking it for good measure. "Father has… somewhat of an obsession with the Detective's little birds. When Timothy flew the coop, Father's interested was piqued. When he did not promptly return… well."

"He went digging," Jason guesses, gripping his phone tightly. "And he found Tim. And me."

"All he knows is that TImothy is living with a partner and a child," Talia says. "His interest does not extend to you, not at this point, but if he figures out who you are…"

"Jesus," Jason says, sinking into the chair behind the desk. "How long do we have?"

"Twelve hours," Talia says. "You should be far, far away by the time he arrives." She hesitates for a moment before going on. "You need to go without Timothy."

"What?” Jason yelps, sitting straight up again. "How the fuck can you-"

"Listen to me," Talia says sharply. "His interest does not lie with you. He wants to check on Timothy, to see what he's doing so far from Gotham and from Bruce. If Timothy goes conveniently missing just as Father arrives, he will be like a dog with a bone. He will leave no stone unturned."

Jason pushes a hand through his hair. "Damian and I are stones in this."

"For what it's worth," Talia says quietly, "I'm sorry. I thought… this isn't something that we could have anticipated."

"No," Jason agrees, staring at the wall as he tries to process everything. "I - I need to go. I have to get Damian and call Tim, and-"

"Go," Talia says curtly. "I will be watching as closely as I can." She sighs. "Be safe."

"You too," Jason says, hanging up the phone.

Fuck. Fuck, _fuck_ , this is every bad dream Jason has ever had happening all at once. He forces himself to take a deep breath and stand up, moving to the door and unlocking it. "Tyler?"

Tyler pops his head out of the Toyota he's been working on. "Everything okay?"

Jason shakes his head. He has no idea what the look on his face is like, but Tyler's expression is instantly concerned. "I need - I can't explain it, not really, but I need to go. For a few days, maybe a week."

"Go," Tyler says immediately. "Do you need anything? Cash? Food? Something else to drive?"

"I'm good," Jason says, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Tyler, you - thanks, man. You're a great friend, you know?"

"I try," Tyler says, shooting him a reassuring smile. "Get going, man. Let me know you're okay when you can."

Jason nods as he heads out of the shop. He jumps into his car and heads for the daycare center, dialing Tim's number as he goes.

"Hey," Tim says warmly. "Slow morning?"

Jason's throat clicks as he tries to swallow. "Ra's," he chokes out. "Tim, we have to - I have to-"

"Breathe," Tim says, and that's a voice that Jason has never heard from him. It calms him down a little, the sharp edges giving him something to cling to. "What about Ra's?"

"Talia called," Jason says, filling Tim in on their conversation as he makes his way across town. There's midday traffic, and Jason wants to scream as he slows to a crawl on the highway.

Tim is silent for a moment when Jason finishes. "Where are you now?"

"Getting off of the highway, three minutes from the daycare center," Jason rattles off. "I'm grabbing Damian and then I'm coming home."

"I'll start packing," Tim says. "Keep it together, okay? The more freaked out you are, the worse Damian is going to be."

"Right," Jason says, forcing himself to breathe deeply. "I'll be home as soon as I can."

"See you shortly," Tim says before hanging up.

Jason has no idea what he says to Teacher Pam, but he's in and out of the daycare center in less than five minutes. Damian was thrilled to see him so early, but he's quiet now that they're speeding towards home. Jason tries to regulate his breathing, to calm himself down so Damian can calm down as well, but the best he can manage is not openly freaking the fuck out.

Damian clings to him when Jason pulls him out of his car seat in the driveway, but when Tim opens the door, Damian immediately leans out and holds his arms for Tim to take him. Tim does so, closing his eyes for a moment as he presses his face into Damian's hair. Jason walks into the house and Tim follows, closing the door behind him. Jason immediately turns and puts his arms around Tim and Damian, and they stand in the entryway for a few minutes without saying anything.

"So," Jason says. He has to clear his throat before he can continue. "What are we going to do?"

Tim pulls back, but his arms are still wrapped around Damian. "I put some stuff in a bag for you two. Clothes, some of his books, a little bit of the zoo." The look Tim gives him is a lot closer to a grimace than a smile, but Jason can tell he's trying. "I made sure to put _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ in there."

"Thanks," Jason says.

"I'm going to drive you to the train station," Tim continues. "Take it into New York, then pick somewhere else to go from there. You can hop another train, get a bus, find a flight, anything. Between what we've both got stashed in cash, your options are pretty much unlimited."

"What are you going to do?"

Tim closes his eyes. "I'm going to hide in plain sight."

"Tim," Jason says helplessly. There's really nothing to add to that, though. Tim's smile this time is a lot better. Jason knows it's for his benefit.

"It'll be fine," Tim says reassuringly. "Hopefully he'll do a fly-by, see that I'm living the quiet life, and get the hell out of here."

Jason snorts. "That seems likely."

Tim shrugs. "I don't have a lot of other options, Jay."

"I know," Jason says. Damian reaches for him, so Jason takes him back. Damian curls his fingers into Jason's collar and tucks his head against his neck, and Jason rubs his back soothingly. He takes a deep breath. "You should call for reinforcements."

Tim's eyes widen a little. "Jay, we've kept them away for a long time. I don't want-"

"I would rather Bruce know everything than let Ra's get you because I was too paranoid for you to get backup," Jason cuts in. "It's okay, Tim. Just… please. If you need to, call them. We'll deal with the fallout later."

Tim nods once. He crosses his arms over his chest and takes a step back. "Set him in the zoo for a few minutes. Let's get the stuff into the car."

They pack the car quickly. Tim had packed with a lot of travelling in mind; all of the luggage is the rolling kind that straps together easily, and Tim hands him the baby backpack, too. He'll be able to move the luggage around without having to worry about carrying Damian.

Tim goes inside to get Damian while Jason checks over everything in the car. It doesn't look like enough, even though Jason has the utmost faith in Tim's packing skills. He knows it has more to do with the fact that Tim isn't going with them than anything else.

"No go," Damian protests, and Jason turns to see Tim carrying him out of the house. "Hungry."

"We'll swing through McDonald's," Tim promises, settling Damian into the backseat. "Do you want nuggets?"

"No," Damian whines. There's no way he hasn't picked up on the tension in the air; he looks like he's ready to burst into tears. "No nuggets, no Donald's."

"Shh," Tim says, buckling the car seat and leaning in to press a kiss to Damian's head. "It's okay, Dami. I promise it's okay."

Damian whines again, reaching his hand out and dragging Panda on top of himself.

Tim shuts the door and bows his head for a moment, swallowing visibly before looking up and nodding. "I put money in your carry-on bag and in the bottom of Damian's diaper bag. I know you've got some stashed, too, if you want to grab that."

"Yeah," Jason says. "I'll go... yeah."

It only takes him a few minutes to grab what he has stashed around the house. It's a respectable amount of cash, and he has no doubt that Tim stuffed at least twice as much into the bags. He stands in their bedroom for a full minute, looking around and trying to center himself before jogging back down the stairs.

Tim is already in the driver's seat when Jason locks the door to the house, and when he gets in the car, Damian's favorite CD is playing. Damian seems to be calmer, at least, so Jason doesn't say anything as they pull out of the driveway. They make it to the end of the street before Tim lets go of the wheel with his right hand, reaching out. Jason grabs it tightly, and Tim flashes him a hint of a smile as he drives.

Damian does end up getting nuggets, to nobody's great surprise, and Tim gets him a kiddie milkshake as well. Jason's stomach is too twisted to eat anything, and Tim doesn't order for himself either, so it's a short wait for the food, and an even shorter drive to the train station from there.

They sit in the parking lot for a few minutes, not saying anything, before Tim takes a deep breath and nods once. "We need to get the stuff onto the platform."

"Yeah," Jason says. He squeezes Tim's hand before letting go and opening the car door. "Yeah, let's get this thing going."

It takes less than five minutes to move everything from the back of the car to the platform. Tim gets Damian out while Jason purchases the tickets, and when Jason makes his way back over to where they're sitting, his stomach twists even more.

"-okay, Damian," Tim is saying quietly. He's rocking Damian a little as he stares down at his face like he's trying to memorize it. "You and Daddy are going on a vacation, and you're going to have a lot of fun. You can tell me all about it when you get back."

Damian wraps his arms around Tim's neck. "Mimmy come?"

"No," Tim chokes out. "Mimmy has to stay here, Dami. You - draw me a picture every day, okay? That way you can tell me all about it when you get home."

"Mimmy come," Damian says stubbornly, tucking his face against Tim's neck. "Dami an' Daddy an' Mimmy."

"Not this time, kiddo," Jason says, sitting on the bench next to his partner. "It's just Damian and Daddy."

"No," Damian says, curling into Tim more. "Mimmy come too."

Tim closes his eyes and leans into Jason's side. "I would if I could, little one."

Jason puts his arm around Tim's shoulders and draws him in as tightly as he can. They sit like that until the announcement comes over the loudspeaker, informing them that the train will arrive in five minutes.

Tim stands first, hugging Damian tightly before pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Mimmy loves you, Damian," he says, waiting for Damian to kiss his cheek before helping Jason secure him into the baby backpack.

Jason pulls Tim into a hug as soon as Damian is strapped in. "I'm sorry," he says into Tim's hair. "God, Tim, I'm so sorry about-"

"Shut up," Tim says into his shoulder. "Just - no. You don't get to apologize for this."

Jason nods and buries his face in Tim's hair for a minute. Tim holds him tightly, and they stand together until they hear the train whistle blow as it rounds the bend into the station.

"I love you," Jason says. He's got nothing else at this point.

"I love you, too," Tim says, leaning up for a kiss. Jason presses their lips together and swears wildly in his head, screams about Ra's and Talia and Bruce and everything that he can think of as Tim pulls away. "I'll call you when it's safe, okay? If you don't hear from me in two weeks, call B. Tell him… tell him that Alvin is in trouble."

"Alvin," Jason says shakily, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't honestly go by Alvin, did you?"

Tim's smile is just as shaky. "I'll tell you all about it when you get back."

"I love you," Jason repeats. The train's doors are open, and passengers are pouring out. One of the conductors is eyeing Jason's pile of luggage with a weary look on his face. "Just - kick his ass, but stay safe, too."

Tim manages a laugh as he steps back. "I'll do my best," he promises. "Try not to worry. I'll be okay."

Jason nods and turns, trying to tune Damian out as he starts whining again. He grabs the luggage and moves towards the train, managing to get everything into place without too much help from the conductor. He sits beside the window and unstraps the baby backpack, letting Damian sit on his lap and press his face against the window. Tim is standing on the platform, smiling and waving at Damian.

The train's whistle blows, loud and sudden, and they start moving. Damian slaps his hands against the window. "Mimmy! Wait, train, Mimmy!"

"Mimmy's not coming, little man," Jason murmurs, rubbing Damian's back as he pounds his fists against the window again. "It's okay, Damian."

"No," Damian wails, bursting into tears as they pull out of the station, Tim fading quickly into the distance. "No, Daddy, no forget Mimmy!"

Jason squeezes his eyes shut and pulls Damian close, rocking him as they speed towards New York.

-0-

It's surprising how little attention a tired father with a toddler attracts, Jason finds. He gets a lot of sympathetic looks from people, but they leave him alone for the most part. It's a good thing, really, because that way he doesn't have to answer awkward but well-meaning questions from people he doesn't know. He's not sure what he'd say.

From New York, Jason buys bus tickets to Philadelphia. He's got the vague idea of city-hopping for as long as he needs to; cities have a lot of advantages, from having a lot of things that will distract Damian to being major transportation hubs to having a lot of people to blend in with. There's also the fact that if things go wrong back home, if Tim isn't able to throw Ra's off of the scent and he heads after Jason and Damian, Jason knows that Ra's is a lot less likely to make a scene in a place where a lot of civilians will get hurt. He's one of Bruce's biggest enemies for a lot of reasons, but he's not known for rampant property destruction and casual loss of civilian lives _without_ a lot of really good fucking reasons.

Jason books them a hotel room in Center City. It isn't cheap, but there are a lot of ways out of the building, and a lot of options for immediate transportation if they need to book it in a hurry. Damian crashes immediately, exhausted from the chaos of the day and three separate crying fits. Jason is too wired to sleep, so he spends a few hours looking up things to do in the city. By the time he goes to bed, he's got a list of attractions that are kid-friendly. If Tim were with them, it really would be a vacation.

They spend a week in Philadelphia, touring the Philadelphia Zoo and the Please Touch Museum and every library branch that Jason can find. A lot of the universities in the city have programs for kids, so they go to a theatre production of _Where The Wild Things Are_ at Temple and a few reading corner sessions at Drexel and the University. By all accounts, Damian has a fantastic time, and Jason can fake it well enough to fool the strangers around him. Damian is too tired at the end of each day to pick up on Jason's increasing anxiety, but he's never too wiped to fall asleep without demanding a piece of paper and his crayons. Jason has a stack of drawings to bring back to Tim, and he's carefully labelled each one with a few identifying words so he'll be able to help Damian explain everything they've done.

They spend their last day in Philadelphia wandering pretty much aimlessly. The hotel had arranged for a stroller when Jason had asked, so he straps Damian in and lets him call out directions, turning left and right at the will of his not-quite-two-year-old son. He's not altogether surprised when they end up at a McDonald's; they're pretty common in the city, and Damian is Damian. They order and sit down to eat.

Jason pulls out his phone, taking a look at some transportation options. He's thinking they can head to Boston next, then maybe fly to DC from there if they still need to stay away.

"Fry?" Damian asks, and when Jason looks up, Damian is holding out a french fry. It looks like a fresh one, too, not one that he's been gnawing on. "Daddy fry."

"I've got some, kiddo," Jason says, pointing to his own box. "I need to look something up on my phone. I'll eat when I'm done."

Damian frowns and waves the french fry around. "Eat fry," he says sternly, holding it out again. "All fries. No dessert."

Jason laughs and puts his phone down, taking the french fry from Damian's hand and making a show out of eating it. Damian nods when he swallows, then points to Jason's still-untouched burger. "Eat it."

"Yes sir, Bossy Damian, sir," Jason teases. He picks up the burger, but almost drops it when his phone starts ringing. It's not Tim's ringtone, and when Jason glances at the display, it's not a number he recognizes, either.

It has a Gotham exchange, though.

Jason wipes his fingers on his napkin and picks up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi," the person on the other end of the phone says, a little too brightly for anything he could possibly have to say to Jason. "I'm looking for Nate. Is this the right number?"

"Yeah," Jason croaks out. "Yeah, Dickie, you've got the right number."

There's a moment of terrible silence before Dick chokes out an awful noise. "Oh my God. Is this-"

"An unsecured line," Jason cuts in, trying to breathe normally. "But… yeah, it's me. Long story, definitely not one I want to have while I'm sitting in a McDonald's on an open line."

"Oh my God," Dick repeats faintly. "When Tim told me to call Nate and explain, he didn't say-"

"Is he okay?"

"Huh?" Dick says. "Oh, uh, well. Yes. Probably."

"Not a good answer, Dickie-bird," Jason says.

Damian is watching him avidly. "Doggie bird?"

Jason snorts and shakes his head, pointing to the remains of Damian's nuggets. "Finish those and you can have your apple slices, okay?"

"What?"

"Not you," Jason says into the phone. "Look, is there somewhere safe we can meet up?"

"I'm supposed to tell you that it's safe to go home," Dick says. "I'm starting to understand why Tim refused to tell me a few things, like your address and your last name."

Jason bristles. "There are a lot of reasons for us to want to stay under the radar. Having you showing up on our doorstep would throw a lot of the anonymity that we've worked for right out the window."

Dick is quiet for a moment before answering. "I can respect that, I swear I can, but I'd still like to see you."

"Yeah," Jason says, blowing out a breath. He closes his eyes for a moment. "Okay."

He gives Dick their address and an estimated time of arrival before hanging up. Damian is frowning mightily at his bag of apple slices, trying to open them on his own, but he pulls the bag out of Jason's reach when he leans over to open it for him.

"I do," he insists. "Daddy eat."

"You're as bad as Tim," Jason says, picking up his burger and taking a big bite.

Damian's face lights up. "Go home and see Mimmy?"

Jason forces himself to swallow his food. "We're going home, yeah, but Tim isn't there, little guy."

Damian shakes his head. "Mimmy at home," he says confidently. "Mimmy stay, Daddy an' Damian go on train."

"I remember," Jason says. "I'm sure he'll be there as soon as he can, okay?"

"Okay," Damian agrees. Jason takes another bite of his burger, watching as Damian finally finds the "open here" slit in the packaging and tears at it. A moment later, he's grinning in triumph at the pile of apples he's dumped onto the table.

"Good job, buddy," Jason says, smiling as Damian cackles over his apples. "You did it."

"I did it," Damian repeats gleefully. "Daddy take picture for Mimmy!"

"He's going to have so many pictures to look at when he gets home," Jason mutters, wiping his hands before snapping a photo of Damian, an apple slice in each hand, smiling over his treasure.

There's no direct public transit from Philadelphia to the Jersey coast, so they have to take the train back up to New York and then down. It's an incredibly long trip, and Jason is so grateful to see their car parked in the lot at the station that he almost doesn't know what to do. Trust Tim to think of everything. It's a matter of a few minutes to load their things into the car, and ten minutes later, Jason is pulling into their driveway. There's an unfamiliar car parked at the curb, but the figure sitting on the stoop isn't unfamiliar at all.

"Oh my God," Dick says yet again as he pretty much flies off the stoop to catch Jason in one of the biggest hugs he's had in years. He has a faint memory of complaining about Dick's octopus hugs when he was a kid, but now he just wraps his arms around Dick and hugs him right back. "It's really - I don't-"

"Breathe," Jason says. "Please don't cry on me until we're inside, Dickie."

Damian chooses that moment to start fussing, smacking one of his toy cars against the car window. Dick glances over and makes a startled, yelping noise.

“Doggie?" Damian says doubtfully. 

Dick raises an eyebrow, and Jason just sighs. "Look, he's got an animal fixation, he heard me call you Dickie on the phone…"

Dick crouches down, taps on the car window, and barks.

Damian's jaw drops, and then he makes the most high-pitched happy shriek. It's even happier than the noise he made when they saw the tigers purring at the zoo, and that's a feat that Jason hadn't thought possible. "Doggie!"

"You're going to want to correct him on that," Jason advises. "Here, let me grab him so you can actually meet him."

"You have a kid," Dick says wonderingly, moving aside so Jason can get Damian out of his car seat. "You and Tim - did you adopt him? Have you been together for that long without me catching on?"

"No," Jason says, standing up with Damian in his arms. "Think back about two and a half years. Remember the 'complication' that wasn't Bruce's?"

He watches as Dick frowns, clearly trying to place the conversation. His eyes widen after a minute. "That… wow. Okay, a lot of things just clicked into place." He looks at Damian's face again, then up at Jason. "I can see it, now that I know what I'm looking for."

"Damian," Jason says, "this is your Uncle Dick. Dickie, this is Damian, and in every way except the legal system way, he's mine and Tim's."

“Doggie,” Damian insists, and twists in Jason’s arms to pat Dick on the head.

"I can be Uncle Doggie," Dick says, smiling and reaching out to tickle Damian's stomach. Damian giggles and twists away, and Dick looks back to Jason. "Um, I think we're out of things we can talk about outside. Can we…"

"Yeah, right," Jason says, heading to the door. It seems eerily quiet inside without Tim moving around, but Jason forces himself to ignore it as he walks in.

It’s harder to ignore Damian, who takes off the second Jason sets him down to see if Mimmy is hiding in the zoo.The kid even temporarily forgets about Panda, who would only have held him back in his quest to scale the epic peak of the stairs and search the second floor.

"Daddy," he calls miserably from the top of the stairs after a few minutes of running around, "where Mimmy is?"

Jason sighs. "I told you, kiddo, he's not here. He'll be home as soon as he can, though."

“No!” There’s a thump that Jason assumes is Damian stomping his foot. It’s his new favorite trick.

"He's going to throw a fit," Jason warns before heading up the stairs. "Between travelling all day and not finding Tim here like he expected, he's probably on his last nerve."

"He's allowed," Dick says, jamming his hands in his pockets. "Kids that age love their routines and their parents, and when one of those is different than they're expecting, it's bad enough. Having both go off the rails at the same time is probably not going over well."

Jason pauses on the landing. "Do you-"

"No," Dick says, his eyes going hilariously wide. "No, not me. Roy - Speedy, you remember him, right? - he's got a little girl. Lian. She's a little older than Damian is."

“The guy with the stupid yellow hat?”

Dick snorts. "I'm going to tell him that's how you remember him."

"I'd appreciate you not spreading anything around," Jason says with a sigh. "When Tim gets home, I guess we're going to have to sit down and figure out who needs to know what, but for now…"

"About that," Dick says, back to serious in a heartbeat. "How much do you know about what went down here?"

"Talia called me," Jason says, heading up the rest of the stairs. Damian is pouting furiously, but he only puts up a token protest when Jason bends to pick him up. "I know that Ra's has some sort of creepy thing for Robins, and that when Talia had Damian brought to me, Ra's didn't know he existed, much less that he was mine."

Dick nods as Jason walks back down into the living room. "Tim called me last week and said he needed my help, so he filled me in a little," he says. "He told me that he was living with someone here, that he caught wind that Ra's was going to make some noise, so he sent you away so he could deal with it. He asked for backup, so here I am."

"B still doesn't know?"

"He doesn't know any more than I did when I called you before," Dick replies. "He and Tim… they're not really on speaking terms when it comes to things that aren't Mission-related."

"Tim hasn't done anything Mission-related in months," Jason points out.

Dick's smile is grim. "That's kind of my point, Jason."

"Ah," Jason says, shaking his head a little. Damian grabs Jason's collar and yanks, shoving his head beneath Jason's chin. Jason starts rubbing his back. "So what happened?"

"Ra's didn't want to hear that Tim was out of the game," Dick says with a sigh. "You aren't wrong that his fixation on Bruce's sidekicks is a little creepy. When Tim insisted that no, he really didn't want to join Ra's now that he’s done with Bruce, Ra's got a little… let's call it insistent."

Jason sits on the sofa. "Since you're in my living room instead of being halfway around the world, I'm guessing that you don't mean violent."

Dick makes a so-so motion with his hand. "There were assassins, but I think they were more for the intimidation factor than anything else."

"Like Tim would be intimidated by assassins that weren't actively trying to kill him," Jason says, rolling his eyes.

"Or ones that were," Dick says with a snort. "Anyway, from what I can tell, Ra's made a comment about how if it was Tim's family that was keeping him here, then Ra's could 'make arrangements.'"

Jason winces. "How much property damage resulted from that fight?"

"A warehouse got mostly demolished," Dick says, "but we were down by the docks, so it could have been a lot worse. Nobody got hurt." He frowns, considering. "Well, no, I think a few of the assassins might have broken bones, but no civilians got hurt, and Ra's left shortly thereafter."

"And then Tim left," Jason adds. "Any clue what the hell is going on with that?"

"I can take a few guesses," Dick says. "I'm pretty sure-"

He's cut off by his phone ringing, and Jason listens to a few bars before snickering. "Is that _Milkshake_? Are you for real?"

Dick wiggles his hips. "It's better than yours," he sings along before flipping phone open. "Hello?" He waits a few beats before raising an eyebrow. "I'm not sure if you have this house bugged to kingdom come, or if your timing is really just that good. The odds are completely even."

Jason is already holding his hand out when Dick starts walking over, and he grabs the phone out of Dick's hand as soon as he's in range. "Tim?"

"Hi," Tim says. Jason slumps back into the sofa, closing his eyes. "Are you two okay?"

"We're fine, we had a great vacation, and Damian drew you a thousand pictures," Jason says. "What about you? Where are you?"

"I can't tell you that," Tim says after a small pause. "I'm safe. I'm not in any danger."

"Thank God," Jason mutters. "When are you coming home?"

"I don't know yet," Tim admits. "I… he's really close to figuring it out. I don't think he knows, not yet, but you know who we're dealing with here."

"Tim," Jason starts, but Tim talks right over him.

"I'm with a friend," he says. "We're making plans, and we're going to finish this. We're going to solve the problem, and when everything is wrapped up, when it's safe, I'll come home."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Tim is quiet for a moment. "It means that I hate knowing that there's always this threat over our heads, and I'm figuring out how to get rid of it," he says after a moment. "I'll fill you in when I get home."

"Tim," Jason says again. He hates feeling helpless, hates it more than pretty much anything, but there's not much he can do at this point.

"I just wanted to check in with you before I have to go dark," Tim says. "I love you, okay?"

"Don't go," Jason says immediately. "Hang on, I mean, if you can. Damian is in the middle of an epic pout, and I'm pretty sure talking to you will fix a lot of that."

"I've got a few minutes," Tim says, "but not too long. Put him on?"

"I love you," Jason says. It's hard to give the phone up, but as soon as Damian hears Tim's voice, he lights up like the sun. He chatters for a few minutes, going on and on about things that Jason is pretty sure he's going to have to translate from Damian-ese later. He's leaving "Uncle Doggie" alone, though, because that's totally Dick's problem.

“Are you okay, J- Nate?” Dick says, bursting the domestic bubble Jason had been managing to hide in for a moment.

“Not really.” It’s as honest as he can be with Damian in the room, and apparently it’s enough.

Dick gives him the puppy eyes. “Maybe it’s time we called for reinforcements.”

“No way. If you tell Bruce, I'll be gone by the time he gets here."

"But-"

"Or I could just go back to my car right now," Jason says, narrowing his eyes.

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter. My kid, my decision."

"And I respect that. I'd do the same for Roy and Lian if he ever thought Ollie... it's not an ultimatum, Nate," Dick says deliberately. "You don't have to answer me. I just want to know if you're okay, and if there's anything I can do."

"I need to stay under the radar - you know why," Jason says. "And B isn't exactly a master of subtlety."

"True," Dick concedes.

"And he'd take Damian away as a 'precaution' until he was satisfied I am who I say I am," he adds. "I'm not putting my kid through the grinder of his paranoia."

Damian continues chattering to Tim, blissfully ignorant. Jason knows the kid can't stay that way forever, but damn it, he's not even out of diapers yet.

Dick sighs. "I really don't think it would be as bad as you think it would, but I get it. Your choice."

He’s saved from having to come up with an answer that isn’t full of expletives by a knock at the door. He's still got a lap full of toddler, though, so he jerks his head at it. Dick takes the hint and walks over, opening the door widely enough that Jason can see out.

"Hi there," Debbie says, smiling up at Dick. "Are Nate and Tim home?"

"In here, Debbie," Jason calls. Debbie's smile warms as she walks in, leaving Dick to close the door.

"Night night," Damian says suddenly, pulling the phone away from his face and giving the screen an exaggerated kiss. "Love you, Mimmy."

Jason hears Tim's faint reply, and he grabs the phone from Damian as quickly as he can. Damian wriggles out of his lap and wanders towards the zoo, apparently satisfied. "Still there?"

"Yeah, but I have to go," Tim says. He's hiding the tense note in his voice pretty well, but Jason knows exactly what to listen for. "I love you. Give Damian a kiss for me, and tell Dick I said thanks for everything."

Jason turns his head away from Debbie and Dick. "Don't say goodbye to me," he says quietly. "I love you, Tim."

"I'll talk to you soon," Tim says instead, and then the connection drops.

Jason takes a few deep breaths before turning back to smile at Debbie. "Hey. Sorry for dropping off the map without letting you know. Tim had to take off for some business, so-"

"You don't have to lie to me, honey," she interrupts. Jason freezes, but she's still smiling at him, and she doesn't sound mad. "I don't know what's going on, and I'm not going to ask. I'm just going to be here if you need me."

"Thanks, but-"

Debbie raises an eyebrow. "Nate, honey. You think you're the only one who's ever had to pack up on zero notice to avoid difficult people?"

"Debbie," Jason says with a sigh. He doesn't usually have such an issue figuring out what to say to people, but he figures he's earned it. The past week has been hell, and it doesn't look like it's getting better soon. "I… thanks."

She pats him on the hand. "If things get bad, Nate, I keep a shotgun in a locker in the closet."

Jason laughs, but she levels him with a look. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"One hundred percent," she says fiercely. "You're good people, Nate, and so is Tim. I don't know what kind of trouble you boys are in, but I'll back you up if you need me to."

Dick whistles from the hallway, and they both turn to look at him. "So," he says. "It looks like you didn't actually need me to show up after all."

Jason rolls his eyes. “Debbie, this is Tim’s brother, Dick. The name suits him, don’t you think?”

"Hey," Dick objects. There's a flash of something that might actually be hurt in his expression before he smiles again. "As my dear, sweet, practically-brother-in-law said, I'm Dick Grayson. I'm glad to know that he and Tim and Damian have someone willing to back them up."

Debbie smiles back at him, all teeth, and Jason’s reminded of a mama wolf about to tear out the throat of whoever’s messed with her babies. “Somebody had to be.”

Dick winces but doesn't respond to the hit, and Jason silently congratulates him for it. Jason lets out a breath, and Debbie turns back to look at him. “Don’t bother rolling out the welcome mat, Debs. He was just leaving.”

Dick snaps his head around, and oh look - the wounded face is back. “Nate, I can-”

“No thanks. I need to get the kiddo back into his normal routine.” As much as that’s possible without Tim, anyway.

Dick hesitates. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," Jason says firmly. "I've got your number, you've got my number. If we need to get in touch, we can."

"Okay," Dick says, raising his hands. "I get the picture. Can I say goodnight?"

"Night," Damian yells from the back of the house. Jason snorts, and Debbie claps a hand to her mouth.

"Well, there's no denying whose kid he is," Dick says, raising an eyebrow. He turns to face the back room. "Can I get a goodnight hug?"

Damian comes running out full-tilt, and Jason sends a silent thanks to Speedy's kid for teaching Dick how to catch a flying toddler. Dick hugs him quickly and boops his nose, letting out a ridiculous-sounding yip when Damian tugs at his ear. Damian giggles. "Night, Uncle Doggie."

"Goodnight, Damian," Dick says, walking him over to the sofa and depositing him into Jason's lap. "It was good to see you again, Nate. I… I really hope we can talk again soon."

Jason takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as Damian curls up in his lap. "Yeah. I… we'll catch up. I promise."

Dick gives him a brilliant smile before letting himself out, and Debbie and Jason sit in silence for a few minutes as they listen to Dick get into his car and drive away.

Debbie hums. "He seems like a nice guy."

"He is aggressively perfect," Jason says, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "I've known him for years. Way longer than I've known Tim, actually, and Dickie has never been anything but a really, really nice guy."

"You don't sound happy about that," Debbie says, clearly amused. "Also, how did you meet him without meeting Tim?"

"Waynes," Jason says vaguely, waving his hand around. "That whole family is just… really bizarre. Tim wasn't a part of it when Dick and I first met."

"I see," Debbie says, patting his arm. "Do you know how long Tim will be gone?"

Jason slumps a little. "I don't have the slightest idea."

"Is he safe?"

"I hope so," Jason says, wrapping his arm around Damian, who is making an effort to not fall asleep on Jason's chest but is mostly failing. It's amazing how quickly he can go from full speed to conked out. "Tim is… he can take care of himself under pretty much any circumstances, but he's bitten off a lot this time. I'd feel better if I could be there, but we can't both be away from Damian." He forces himself not to add _in case we don't come back_ , but he can't help thinking it.

"Honey, I don't know if there's anything on Earth that could keep that boy from coming home to the two of you," Debbie says softly.

Jason leans into her and lets himself daydream, just for a little while, about a world where the things _on Earth_ are all you have to worry about.

-0-

They go ten days without hearing from Tim.

Jason does his level best not to worry. Damian is already on edge, and Jason knows that the more he freaks out, the worse Damian's temper will be. He's already gotten two phone calls from the daycare center about "incidents," and he's tried to explain that Tim is away on business without giving away what it is. It isn't hard to hold back details given that he barely knows anything, but he's aware that his voice cracks when he says that he doesn't know when Tim will be back, _sorry, I'll talk to Damian._

"Hey, buddy," he says, settling on the sofa with Damian in his arms. "Teacher Pam called me again today. Did you really bite Mandy's arm?"

Damian frowns. "Mandy yell at me!"

"Yeah? Tell me about it, huh?"

Jason zones out, letting Damian ramble for a while, something about a sandcastle and a Buzz Lightyear action figure that seems incredibly serious for a couple of almost-two-year-olds. Jason sighs when Damian finally peters out, settling in against his chest.

"You can't go around biting people who piss you off, kiddo," he says. "Even if Buzz Lightyear is involved."

"I want Mimmy," Damian mumbles, grabbing a fistful of Jason's shirt. "Mimmy Buzz Lightyear."

"I bet he would, yeah," Jason sighs, rubbing Damian's back. He yanks the blanket from the end of the sofa and pulls it around both of them, pressing a kiss into Damian's hair and rocking him a little. He goes to sleep pretty easily, which unfortunately gives Jason's brain a little too much time to devote to all the really fucking awful things that could have happened to Tim.

It's past one in the morning when Jason hears a scraping sound at the door. He freezes before sinking back into the sofa, hoping that it's not assassins here to steal Damian, or the White Ghost, or Ra's himself-

The hallway light clicks on and Tim trudges in, dropping a duffel near the door before shutting and locking it. He leans against the door, sighing heavily, and Jason forces himself to swallow as he takes in his partner's appearance. He's got several bruises and scrapes, but seems fine otherwise.

"Tim?"

Tim startles, and Jason doesn't want to think about how exhausted he must be if he hadn't seen Jason and Damian sitting there. He doesn't move away from the door, though. "Jay. I... it's over."

Jason frowns. "How can it be over?"

"Ra's is dead. Exceedingly so. He's in bits and pieces, scattered to the ends of the universe." Tim drops his head back against the door. "Talia killed him. I... kept her from getting distracted."

"Jesus," Jason breathes. "Tim-"

"Talia deserved the chance to finally make a free choice," Tim says flatly. "Even if it wasn't about the two of you, I don't know that I would have stopped her."

"I never wanted..." Jason trails off. What can he say that wouldn’t be a lie? Because yeah, he wanted Ra’s out of their lives. And who cares if he never wanted Tim to have to be the one to do it? Tim made his own choices too, and undermining him now, when they’ve finally gotten their family back together, would be beyond shitty.

Tim finally walks over and drops to the sofa, wrapping his arms around Jason and Damian. His forehead rests on Jason's shoulder, and Jason can feel the tension running through him as he sighs. "I did what I had to do to protect my family. I don't regret it, so don't you dare."

Jason manages to get an arm disentangled from Damian and the blanket, but by the time he's reaching for Tim, Tim's already standing and walking towards the back of the house. Jason frowns as he hears Tim walk into the zoo, and after a minute, Jason gathers Damian up and follows.

Tim has the dresser open, and is pulling out stacks of shirts. He hasn't worn any of them in months; Jason knows, because the stuff that Tim actually wears is mixed in with Jason's stuff in their room. Jason watches in silence for a minute, confused, before it clicks in his head.

"Are you - you're leaving us. After all of that." Jason tries to keep his voice steady, but he's been running on fumes for two days now. He's got nothing left to keep his voice from wavering. 

"I'm getting ready for the next step," Tim says without turning around. "Bruce won't just let this go."

He isn't wrong, but that doesn't make Jason feel any better. "Like hell am I going to let him take you away,Tim. We'll - we can move. Disappear. The three of us."

Tim slips and jams his finger in the bedside drawer. "You'd do that?"

"Jesus, of course I would. I'm in love with you, remember?" Jason feels the corner of his mouth lift a little. "You're Damian's other dad. Why the hell would I just leave you to-"

Tim stares pointedly down at the bedside table, and Jason stops short. Tim can't possibly think...

"You thought _I_ was going to leave _you_."

"It… I was there when she killed him, Jason." Tim gives the most sickly smile that Jason has ever seen. "I didn't stop her. I even helped her do it."

Jason nods. "You helped her get her life back from the demon undead."

" _Murder_ , Jason. I'm an accessory to the murder of your son's grandfather."

"The psycho who wanted to go full Voldemort and use my son as a meatsuit." Jason snorts. "I'm not crying over here."

Tim is outright staring now. "You're… you're not upset with me."

Jason shakes his head. "Only for being an idiot about my reaction. I mean, come on, Tim. He threatened our kid."

Tim takes a step towards them. "I thought… we don't kill. It's the number-one rule."

"You and I really need to talk about the time between my resurrection and when you found me," Jason says with a sigh. "I need to not leave out the parts that I'm pretty sure are gonna scare you away. I've got a lot of blood on my hands, Tim, and not all of it is for reasons as good as yours."

The look on Tim's face isn't great, but he doesn't look like he's going to bolt anymore, so Jason goes on. "For now I'm just gonna say, as someone who's been killed by a psycho before? I know when someone's serious about taking me out and then stepping over my corpse like it was nothing."

Tim takes a step back and drops to the bed, putting his face in his hands. "Jay..."

"You saved my life, Tim." Jason grins, but Tim's head is still in his hands. "And hey, I'm an ordinary citizen now. Saving me is your job."

Tim finally looks up. The expression on his face is probably supposed to be a smile, but it's a pretty bad one. Jason is pretty sure it's a Tim-needs-a-hug look, but he's not convinced, and he doesn't want to misread this one.

"Daddy, _ow_!"

Well, apparently Jason needed to hug _someone_. Damian pouts up at him, wide eyes all sleepy and full of betrayal. "Hey, little guy. Sorry."

Tim chokes a sound that's closer to a sob than a laughs, and Damian swivels. His whole face lights up when his eyes land on Tim.

"Mimmy home! Mimmy Mimmy Mimmy-"

Damian wriggles right out of Jason's arms and runs straight into Tim's lap. He wraps his arms around Tim's neck and very clearly squeezes for all he's worth. "Mimmy, Buzz Lightyear," he says plaintively

Tim's laugh sounds a lot better as he hugs Damian back. "What about Buzz Lightyear, kiddo?"

Jason can't help the grin that spreads across his face. Hug time is a go, clearly. He takes a step towards the bed as Damian pulls back. He frowns and reaches up, putting his palm against Tim's cheek. "Mimmy ow?"

"It's okay, Dami," Tim says, managing an honest-to-God smile. "I'll be okay."

"Kiss it better!" Damian insists, grabbing Tim's face in his hands and leaning in to kiss the bruise. Tim's smile is so wide that there's no way it isn't hurting him as Damian pulls back.

"Thank you, Damian. It feels better already," Tim says, ruffling Damian's hair.

Jason clears his throat and they both turn to look at him. "Daddy's turn now, kiddo."

Damian frowns and flings his arms around Tim's neck again. " _Share_ , Daddy."

This must be what they mean about teaching your kids things that will come around to bite you in the ass. "Share later. You can have an Oreo if you let Daddy hug Timmy all by himself now."

Damian narrows his eyes. "Two Os."

"You can have three Os, kiddo, just get down for a minute."

Damian's eyes go wide for a split-second before he unlatches himself and slides out of Tim's lap, running for the kitchen. Tim snorts as Damian skids around the corner. "It's good to know that I rate somewhere between two and three Oreos on a scale of things that Damian cares about."

"He'd ditch me for one," Jason says seriously, walking over and sitting beside Tim on the bed. Tim leans right in, and Jason tugs until Tim is all but in his lap. "I was terrified you weren't coming home."

"I was terrified you'd throw me out when I got here," Tim admits quietly. "All I could think was, it doesn't matter if he hates me, because at least they'll be safe."

Jason squeezes Tim tightly. "The only thing that could ever make me hate you is if you purposely hurt Damian, and I know there's nothing in the world - or anywhere outside of it - that could make you do that. I think you're safe."

"I love you," Tim says. "Both of you."

"We love you, too," Jason says, pressing a kiss to Tim's cheek. "Damian was a mess the whole time you were gone. I was even worse."

Jason can feel Tim smile against his lips. "I-"

"Daddy! Mimmy!" Damian shouts, and there's the sound of something being dragged by small increments across the floor of the kitchen. " _Os_!"

Jason lets his head knock against Tim's as they both start to laugh.

-0-

Jason has never been more glad that Tim finally agreed to accept a late birthday present. His camera is getting a workout of epic proportions collecting blackmail material.

“The fluffy dog ears are a nice touch,” Tim comments as he sneaks in another paparazzi shot.

“Have I mentioned how awesome you are?” Jason slings an arm around Tim’s waist so he won’t block the lens, and kisses him on the back of the neck.

“Turning Damian’s birthday into a trash-the-awful-house party was _your_ idea.”

Jason grins. “I’m still not convinced you didn’t beam subliminal messages into my brain.”

Tim snorts and raises his camera again as Dick speeds by on all fours, barking and growling as Damian hangs onto his neck and shrieks with laughter.

“Y’know, once you sign the paperwork you’re legally obliged to tell Damian he can’t keep Uncle Doggie as a pet,” Jason says.

“Is that so?” Tim says dryly, but he leans back into Jason so he’s probably at least somewhat amused. "I guess I’ll have to have a talk with him soon, then."

“Yup.” It’s times like these Jason regrets that Tim’s too short to hide behind, because he just _knows_ there’s a dopey smile on his face. The adoption process itself will take a few months, or so the lawyer had told them, but it's officially in the works.

“Who gets to tell him about his new zoo?” Jason was dubious when Tim first drew up the plans, but in one day Damian’s amassed almost a dozen new stuffed animals. Suddenly the zoo/clubhouse is looking like a stroke of genius.

"I'm taking that one," Tim replies. "I figure it'll probably balance out not being able to keep Dick in a pen."

Jason rests his chin on Tim's head. "Y'know, if we got Damian to ask nicely, he'd probably do it."

"No," Tim says sternly. “We’d be inundated with redheads fighting over who gets to rescue him.”

"It would be hilarious," Jason tempts. "There are moments when skills like theirs are needed, sure, but then there are times when they're employed to rescue a twenty-seven-year old man from his pint-sized nephew, who has captured him with the help of a hundred stuffed caterpillars." Damian has yet to show a single sign of growing out of loving _The Very Hungry Caterpillar_ , and Jason is completely comfortable with that.

Tim cracks up laughing, and apparently he’s loud enough to startle Debbie’s newest foster kid. She buries her face in Debbie’s pant leg, mashing cake into her blonde hair as she tries to cover her ears. Debbie bends down and rubs the girl's back, saying something that's too quiet for Jason to hear, but it makes the girl press closer. Debbie's shirt is a dead loss to green frosting, but Jason doubts she'll mind.

“Might be time to wrap things up soon,” Tim comments, his eyes following the same path as Jason’s.

“Before the sugar wears off and the meltdowns begin,” Jason agrees.

Damian runs over and tugs on Jason's pants until Jason lets go of Tim and bends down. "What's going on, birthday boy?"

"Up," Damian demands, looping his arms around Jason's neck. Jason obliges, lifting Damian and leaning into Tim's side. Tim smiles up at them, stepping away and raising the camera. He snaps a few photos in quick succession.

"No good," Dick says from behind Tim. Tim frowns and turns, and Dick makes grabby hands. "It's not going to work unless you're in there, too. Show me which button to push and then say cheese."

Tim winces. "Ah. Don't you have a camera, Dick?"

"Let me play with the toy," Dick says, his eyes going wider than Damian's have ever done. "Please, Mimmy, please."

"Please, Mimmy!" Damian echoes, reaching out and snagging Tim's collar. Tim sighs and hands the camera over, giving Dick very explicit instructions about what he should and shouldn't touch before stepping back and wrapping his arm around Jason's waist. Damian leans his head against Tim's and smiles widely.

“Say cheese!”

“Hack,” Tim mutters out of the corner of his mouth.

“Dick,” Jason gleefully corrects him.

“Doggie!” Damian shouts.

That is why, in their first family photo, both Tim and Jason have their eyes closed, and Damian's head is tipped up. He’s frowning in confusion at his clearly-crazy parents, who are laughing so hard they can't see.

(They still hang a copy in the new house.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [chibifukurou](http://chibifukurou.livejournal.com/63971.html) and [yolanee](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1022327) for the incredible art! Please check out their master posts and let them know how amazing their work is.
> 
> In case you're curious, [this is the layout](http://www.homestyler.com/designprofile/22fefd7f-2600-4020-98f5-b6250962cda4) of Talia's revenge house. It's a doozy. Imagine a lot more tables with houseplants in random corners, too.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Fanwork: After the Storm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022327) by [Yolanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yolanna/pseuds/Yolanna)




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